Things Change
by LLSmoothJ
Summary: [Formerly A Different Beat] Joey and Kaiba always had, if you would call it that, a daily routine at school:  Kaiba always came with an insult to him, then Joey snapped and got angry and it went on from there.  One day, Kaiba's in for a rude awakening. Ra
1. Kaiba's Shock Of The Year

Summary: Joey and Kaiba always had, if you would call it that, a daily routine at school: Kaiba always came with an insult to him, then Joey snapped and got angry and it went on from there. One day, Kaiba comes up, looking to do the usual insults, but he is in for a rude awakening. (Not Literally)

Pairings so far: JoeyxOC, KaibaxOC.

Seto Kaiba sat back inside of his sleek black limo as he let out a sigh. It was another day at Domino High. He wondered why he even bothered to go to school in the first place, as he believed that it he excelled their "low-class standards." But however, the city law stated that all minors under the age of 18 were required to be present at school. The last thing Kaiba needed was to get into legal trouble with the law. So consequently, it was to be another slow day…

"Mr. Kaiba Sir," His limo driver informed, "We've arrived at the school."

He let out a sigh, "Good…"

The limo then pulled over at the front of the school. The door opened as Kaiba stepped out, with his silver briefcase in hand. He ignored the negative comments and stares of despise from his fellow students as he walked into the building.

"Idiots…" He muttered to himself as he went towards his locker. He wanted to just get the books he would need from his locker, and go to the library to get some early work done so he could at least go home before 10:00 tonight from Kaiba Corp. As he made it to his locker, he then noticed a familiar classmate: Namely one Joseph Wheeler.

To say that these two didn't get along would be an understatement. If they were not exchanging hateful words, they were getting into fights which usually resulted into a trip to the Principal's office. However, belittling Joey was one of the few things that placed a smile on his face. He didn't know why it did, but seeing his humiliation and his frustration always brought a smile on his face.

As he walked closer, he debated in his mind which demeaning insult he should use today. He had a good variety of them: Third-Rate Duelist, Mutt, Dog, Monkey, just to name a few. One night when he had the day off, which was a very rare occasion, he stayed up just thinking about a new insult for him, but "Dog" came off the tongue so well it almost became second nature to refer to him as well.

There he was, trying to undo the combination to his locker. Kaiba could taste victory against the poor defenseless puppy, as he called him. Long story short: Wheeler was going down…

"Well if it isn't the little Puppy Dog!" He smirked at him, as Joey just took out his history book, not bothering to respond. Kaiba was in shock. Normally, Joey would be right about pissed at this moment, usually coming back with a name for him as well: Moneybags, Snob, just to name a few. 'He must've not had heard me,' Kaiba figured. 'After all, Dogs were too dumb to know that they're being insulted.'

Kaiba decided to continue, hoping to gain his attention. "Don't bother going to class, Mutt. Today's lesson is probably much too advanced for you to keep up with us humans." That aught of get to him, he thought, but still, no response. This was getting old, and was beginning to be irritated. That's twice that he's insulted him and yet there he was: Wheeler, still organizing his bag and locker, not even giving a damn. Doesn't that mediocre fool know when he's being insulted!?

'One more time…' He thought, figuring that three times was a charm. How cliché... "I was going to let you be my guinea pig and try out my latest Duel Disk, but I figured even that is far too advance for a dimwitted dog like you…" He finished as he then, after seeing that he wasn't getting the desired reaction, glared at him. 'Come on, Wheeler! What are you, deaf!?'

It appeared that he finally got what he wanted as Joey finally turned around and faced him. But it wasn't the look of anger and rage he was expecting…

"What'd ya want, Kaiba?" He asked. He wasn't screaming, growling, or even seething. He just narrowed his eyes and just responded. Not sounding as if he was angry. But rather…annoyed.

"Are you trying to piss me off, Wheeler?" Kaiba asked, coldly. After all of that: the name calling, the put-downs, the numerous verbal shots at his pride. _This_ was all he got in return!?

"Not really…seems that you have that down pat by yerself." He replied with a slight smirk.

Kaiba scoffed, "I don't have to take this from a low-class dork from you…" He walked off, believing that he wasn't even worth his time anyway.

"Yer the one actin' like a low-class dork, not me." Joey stated. "I mean, I'm just mindin' my own business, and then you show up and you don't have enough class to speak to me like a human being. No 'Hi Joey, what's up?' No 'How's it goin' Joey?' Not even a 'Hey Wheeler!' All I get is 'Well if it isn't the little Puppy Dog!' So why should I pay attention to ya if you don' even have enough respect to call me by name?" He scoffed as he closed the door to his locker. "And you said that _I_ have no class…" He walked away. "Speakin' of which, I can't be late again."

'You didn't used to think that way before…' Kaiba gritted his teeth as his eyes narrowed at Joey. How dare he talk to him in that way? Joey ignoring him as if he was just an insolent bug was one thing, but having him speak to him in that manner was another thing. What really placed the final nail in the coffin was that "no-class" remark…

"I'll have you know that I am one of the most respected businessmen in the country, as well as one of the richest people in Domino, let alone this school! You have some nerve about criticizing _me_ about class while you're just a street thug who couldn't duel to save his life, much less with a pathetic deck, Wheeler!" He snapped, screaming so loud that everyone within a distance, student or teacher, looked towards him.

"That's the sad part, Kaiba…" was all Joey said before he walked into his English Class.

"That jerk…he'll pay for this…" Kaiba muttered, vowing revenge as a finger then tapped him on the shoulder.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT!?" He snapped, as his expression then changed to embarrassment, especially seeing who it was... "Err..I mean-"

"Mr. Kaiba…" A woman who appeared to be in her late forties, dressed in a black business suit handed him a pink slip of paper. "Detention."

"But-"

"But nothing, Mr. Kaiba. I'll see you after school." The woman walked away as Kaiba glared at the paper which was a detention slip. This was all Wheeler's fault, he believed. If he wouldn't have broken their routine, then none of this would've happened, let alone him getting detention and consequently not getting as much work done at Kaiba Corp as he originally planned, while Wheeler meanwhile was now the King of Self-Esteem. The Jerk…

The loud bell than rang as it signaled 5 more minutes before class started. With a sigh, Kaiba walked down the halls to his first class: English. Unfortunately, or in this case Fortunately Joey was in the same class as a smile came to his face. He didn't know what kept Wheeler from losing his temper, but he wanted to break it down and have him lose his temper. Besides, insulting him wouldn't be as fun…

English Class wasn't any better. The teacher has already given them a writing assignment about the one person who has greatly influenced your life. Most of them already had the person in mind such as their mother or father. But for Kaiba, he only had one person in mind:  
  
His Stepfather, Gozaburo Kaiba.

The only person he could think about at this time would be the best idea to write about, but the last thing he needed was to air out all of his dirty laundry and to gain sympathy from his peers. If there was one thing that he's learned, it was that sympathy and mercy was for the weak at heart. Kaiba looked around as he then saw him. That same person who was the source of his current problems right now...

Joey was busy on his writing assignment. Kaiba didn't care to see what he was doing his paper on, as the only thing on his mind was hate for Wheeler, for embarrassing him earlier today. For making him so angry that he snapped at a teacher, for getting him detention, which would cause him to be behind on his work.

"He'll pay for this…" He seethed as an evil smirk came to his face as he came up with a plan. He was going to break Joey's new calm personality into what it once was: A hot-headed, short-tempered one, the same personality which he came to know and love, as in love to humiliate and insult.

"I hope you don't get any brain cramps, Wheeler. After all, this is far too advanced for you." He whispered to Joey, who just rolled his eyes.

"Ya just don't know the meaning of the word 'quit,' do ya, Kaiba?" He muttered.

"As do you, Fido. But then again, the words you can only understand only have four letters." Kaiba smirked, knowing that it was enough to have him outburst in class, earning him detention. That would make detention easier for him, knowing that Wheeler would be around for him to "have fun with."

Yugi couldn't help but notice Kaiba and Joey's "conversation" as he sighed, knowing that it was just a matter of time for Joey to blow his lid.

"Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Kaiba, please be quiet." The teacher demanded as she gave them a glare.

"Sorry…" Joey apologized, which cause Kaiba the snap the pencil he was using into two. He couldn't understand it: He's just insulted him, and got him on the teacher's bad side, as well as himself, and the only thing he could reply with is "sorry?" No back talk? No complaints? No "Tell Moneybags ta Shut up! He's da one who started it!" to the teacher? Something strange was going on with Wheeler, and Kaiba had every intention to find out what it was.

"That was a close one, Joey." Yugi whispered. "You and Kaiba almost got detention.

"I'll say…What's with him today?" Joey asked as he whispered back, as Kaiba glared at Joey. What's with him? What's with him!? He already insulted him and his intelligence and yet he didn't even snap at him. It was as if he was just a common fly who meant nothing to him. He was going to crush him, he vowed. One way or another…

School was let out, but not for those who had detention. Kaiba walked in to see a several more student, a few bullies plotting, as well as a girl applying her make up, save for a young, small boy slouching in his desk in fear as if him being in detention was a mistake. It was safe to say that Seto Kaiba didn't belong here at all. He then sat down in a seat in a classroom in the back, just where he liked it. No one to bother him, and that he could see what everyone was doing. This was the first time this year he had a detention, and it was all Joey's fault. Speaking of whom, Joey was sitting in front of him, but three seats to the right. It wasn't really a shock to see Joey in detention, as it had became like a second home to him, as he usually was with Tristan, who wasn't there for some reason. He must've gotten into trouble in his other classes, or was he making up the days which he skipped. It didn't matter why he was here, but all that mattered as of this moment was revenge. Kaiba opened his briefcase as he took out his laptop, but he then receive a loud "a-hem" from the teacher sitting at the desk.

"Mr. Kaiba, in detention we don't allow any electronic devices." He said sternly.

"But I have a company to run!" Kaiba stated his case, but the teacher, Mr Morto, would have none of it.

"You should've thought of that before you did what you did, now please put that device away or I'll have to take it."

"But-" A growl then emitted from a defeated Kaiba as Joey, watching the entire incident, just shook his head in pity.

"It's best to just go with da flow, Kaiba." Joey advised which earned him a "Shh" from Morto.

"No talking Mr. Wheeler. Or do you need another detention?"

"Sorry…" He said as he went back to his "book," which was actually some type of magazine being disguised as his History book. Kaiba went in for a closer expression as it appeared to have a picture of a leggy supermodel dressed in baby pink tube top and hotpants in front of a platinum-colored lowrider. She appeared to be giving a seductive wink as an evil smile then formed on Kaiba's face. It was obvious that the Dog was, instead of studying, getting a thrill from a porno magazine. What better way to get revenge for receiving a detention was to give Wheeler another one? Besides, it may make this detention a bit less boring. Kaiba then raised his hand. "Mr. Morto?"

Morto sighed as looked towards Kaiba. "Yes Mr. Kaiba?"

"I think you better take a look at Joey's reading material. "I doubt that it's appropriate."

"Huh?" Joey looked towards Kaiba. "What are ya talkin' about Kaiba?"

"You know very well what I'm talking about, Fido. We all know that you're looking at a Playboy. Just admit it?"

"Yer crazy…" Was all that Joey said as he went back to his reading…

"If I am, then prove me wrong, Wheeler!" Kaiba challenged with a grin. "Why don't you share with us just exactly what you're reading." This got the attention of everyone else as Joey scoffed.

"I don't have to prove anything to you…" He brushed him off.

"What's the matter? Are you scared like the little puppy dog that you are?" Kaiba taunted, knowing how much he hates him bringing up the Duelist Kingdom incident. "I bet you're drooling over a picture of a woman who has her fingers inside her-"

"That's enough, Mr. Kaiba." Morto held up his hand, indicating silence as he hen turned to Joey. "Mr. Wheeler, will you please show me the cover of the Magazine?"

With a sigh, Joey closed the Magazine as he held it up, so that not just Mr. Morto, but everyone else to see as well. As it turned out, the same model Kaiba saw before was on the cover, complete with the lowrider but something else. Instead of the plain font which read "Playboy," in its place was a bold, gold-metalic font which read "Lowrider!"

"You're right, Mr. Kaiba. This is a vulgar magazine." He turned the page, which lead to a picture of a green lowrider. "A picture of a car? How perverted!" He turned to another page. "A catalog for car parts? Think of the children!" The other students began to laugh at Mr. Morto's sarcasm as Joey just gave Kaiba a smug as if to say "Just give it up, Kaiba."

"Aside from the woman on the cover of this magazine, I don't see anything which would be considered Vulgar and obscene in this _car_ magazine." Morto concluded, as he emphasized "car." "It looks like another day in detention is necessary."

Kaiba turned a shade of scarlet, but in a mixture of rage and embarrassment. That's twice Joey Wheeler managed to embarrass him. How could it had happen? He had to come up with a new plan to crush him, before this new Joey drove him even more to the line of insanity. He didn't care what it was and what the cost, something had to be done!

Did you like it? Did you hate it? It's just an idea I had in mind. Please review!


	2. Hell Hath No Fury Like A Sister Scorned!

Thanks for the reviews. It was a story that I had planned on doing for a while and now I finally got around to it. Now here's the second chapter!

Summary: Joey and Kaiba always had, if you would call it that, a daily routine at school: Kaiba always came with an insult to him, then Joey snapped and got angry and it went on from there. One day, Kaiba comes up, looking to do the usual insults, but he is in for a rude awakening. (Not Literally)

Pairings so far: JoeyxOC, KaibaxOC.

* * *

Detention was finally over as Kaiba walked out, yet with another detention. And it was all that Mediocre Fool's fault! Speaking of which, there he was. Joey Wheeler meeting up with the rest of the geeks: Yugi Moto, Tea Gardner, Tristan Talyor, and Ryou Bakura.

"Hey guys!" He greeted to his friends.

"So how was detention?" Yugi asked.

"S'okay…" Joey replied. "Kaiba on the other hand got himself another detention!"

"Another?" Bakura's eyes went wide.

"I didn't know that Kaiba even had detention." Tea stated. "That must've been a first."

"Kaiba flipped out at the principal which got him there in the first place." Tristan explained. "He must've really been stressed out."

Joey then noticed that his friends were looking at him accusingly. "What?"

"What did you do to get him so stressed out?" Tea asked in an accusing tone.

"Nuthin'." He said.

"Yeah right, Joey!" Tristan responded. "We all know that every time Kaiba shoots his insults at ya, you get bent and you get into a fight!"

"I'm serious you guys! I was at my locker mindin' my own business and suddenly Kaiba shows up with the insults. I decided to ignore him until the point where he got really annoyin'. Then I asked him what does he want then he continued with the insults."

"It's true, now that I remember what happened in English class today!" Yugi reflected. "I'm surprised you didn't snap at Kaiba."

"To be honest, so am I?" Joey admitted. "I thought that I was going to lose it, but didn't."

"So where's your unbelievably cute sister?" Tristan asked Joey about his sister Serenity. "I figured she was going to meet you as she got out of school the same time as you'd get out of detention."

Joey narrowed his eyes at his friend. "What's it to you?" This caused Kaiba to smile a little after hearing his adversary. So Serenity would be the key to get Wheeler angry, maybe angry enough to fight. He knew the perfect thing to say now as he walked towards them.

"I think you're out of luck, Taylor." He informed. "Because I think she already has a boyfriend, one who could satisfy all of her needs, and I mean _all_ of her needs." He grinned as he tugged on the belt of his pants.

Joey sighed as he rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Kaiba…" He asked, not really interested to deal with him.

"I think it's fair for you to know about what your sister's been doing with me." He explained, hoping that the thought of his sweet, innocent little sister just being with someone like him would cause his blood to boil.

"Uh oh…" Tea muttered as she looked towards Kaiba's direction, who had an evil smirk on his face.

"Like what, Kaiba." Joey responded, wishing that he'd just go away.

"It's simple, Puppy." Kaiba smirked. "Let's just say that she's not as innocent as you all think she is." He figured that in addition of getting Joey pissed, he'd get Tristan pissed off as a bonus. He knew how much Tristan liked Serenity, and the thought of Duke Devlin being enough competition without Kaiba getting involved was more than likely to cause tempers to flare.

"What do you mean, Kaiba?" Tristan glared.

"You know, I figured Serenity would be a prude, but it turns out after 'camping out' in my limo, she was more of a whore than your mother!" That had to be enough for Joey to snap now. He just insulted both his sister and his mother surely he'd react to it. Well…at least Tristan was ready to strangle Kaiba's throat, but Yugi and Bakura managed to hold him back. Tea meanwhile just glared.

"Kaiba! How dare you say that about a human being?" She hissed, also ready to jump him.

"Don't worry about it, Tea." Joey assured with a smirk, much to everyone's shock.

Kaiba was the most shocked as the purpose was to get him angry. Why was Wheeler smirking when his family has been insulted? Perhaps he needed to continue to push the envelope some more. "That's right, Wheeler. You know as well as I do about your mother being a whore. And after what I've experienced…" He chuckled, "You know what they say, 'Like Mother, Like Daughter.'" That was sure enough to get him not only pissed, but to have the heart to actually try to kill him. Wait a second, why Joey's grin was becoming wider and his eyes became narrower? His face was grinning as if he was saying "Keep digging, 'cause you're in real deep shit now, Kaiba!"

"What are you smiling about, Wheeler?" Kaiba snapped, becoming even more annoyed. "Aren't you going to defend both your sister's and your mother's honor?"

"Don't have to, Richie Rich!" Joey replied.

"Don't what?" Kaiba replied as a bit of panic was in his voice as well as his face.

"Just turn around. Apparently a certain someone's not very happy with you…" Joey said teasingly as he turned around and looked down. Long Auburn Hair, Honey Brown Eyes…scratch that, _Angry_ Honey Brown Eyes, White Fuku top with Red Tie and Navy Blue Pleated Skirt, Navy Blue Knee Socks, Black Platform Loafers…yep Kaiba was definitely in deep shit now.

"What'd ya have to say for yerself, eh Kaiba?" Joey asked. Apparently he felt that Serenity could defend herself, and didn't need to defend her. Before Kaiba could say a word as he turned around, he was met with a hard slap to the face.

"THAT was for insulting my brother!" Serenity hissed as she then punched him in the jar. "THAT was for my mother!" She then finished as she kicked him hard in the…erm…lower regions, which caused him to go down. "And that was for slandering me as I'm some whore for your pleasure!"

Everyone, aside from Joey, was mostly in shock. Tea and Tristan were snickering as Yugi and Bakura were impressed that Serenity could defend herself. Kaiba meanwhile, clutching to his injured…area…was seething.

"Hmph, you need your sister to defend you… how pathetic Wheeler…" Kaiba winced, apparently not giving up on finding a way to piss him off.

"Just give it up, Kaiba…" Joey brushed him off as he, his sister, and his friends then walked off.

"Man Serenity! I didn't know you had it in ya!" Tristan said, impressed. "I mean, even Kaiba was shocked."

"Who would've thought that Kaiba would've been taken down by a 9th grader, much less a girl!" Tea snickered.

Serenity blushed, "It was Joey who taught me."

"But I didn't teach ya to do that last thing to Kaiba." Joey replied. "Man, I don't care if it him or if it's even Marik. Never kick a guy below the belt, Sere! Especially when wearin' those shoes…"

"Well it made a more lasting effect with them on." Serenity reminded with an innocent smile. "As Mai told me…"

"I think she's becoming a bad influence on ya…" Joey muttered as Serenity responded by sticking her tongue out at him.

"Don't hate, you know you like her." She said slyly.

"Sorry, but she's a bit too old for me. I mean, I'm 16 and she's like, what, 24? As much as I'd like to go out with her, it'd be to risqué. You know they're becoming stricter on underage relationships. Besides, I doubt she likes me that way anyway. He looked at his watched as the screen showed 4:45. "Crap, I'm late! I'll see ya later guys." Joey said his goodbyes as he broke out into a mad sprint.

"Joey-" Serenity called out, but it was too late. He was already too far of hearing range.

"Hope I'm not late…" He muttered to himself.

Meanwhile, Kaiba made it to his limo, while clutching his jewels. It hadn't been a good day at all today. First he got into detention, something that he has never done. Then in detention he manages to earn himself another detention. And now he got kicked where it hurt the most by a girl, one who was still in middle school. And it was all Joey Wheeler's fault. He was the cause of everything that happened to him. The Pain, the humiliation, everything! Why? All because the dog couldn't show a bit of anger like he did in the past. If he didn't messed up the routine as much as he did just about everything else-school, dueling, etc.- none of this would've occurred. And the worst of all: Now he'll be behind by about a day's worth of work at Kaiba Corp.

After Kaiba closed the door, his cell phone began to ring. He took it out from his trench coat. "Kaiba!" He answered in his cold tone.

_"Seto?"___

Kaiba's face of anger was replaced with a face of easy. "Mokuba?"

_"What happened to you Big Brother? I called Kaiba Corp and they said that you were still at school!"_

Kaiba sighed. He didn't want to remember what happened today. Not at all. "It was nothing, Mokuba."

_"If you say so… But anyways, I have something that could solve your problems."_

"Really…" Kaiba responded skeptically.

_"I'll tell ya more when ya get home!"_ Mokuba decided.

"Fine…" Kaiba said, not believing anything else could be worse.

_"See ya later, Seto!"_

"Bye Mokuba."

_-Click-_

"If Mokuba really wants to help me, it'd be away to wipe Wheeler from existence…" Kaiba muttered as he decided to do whatever work he missed at home and pull an all-nighter as always. It was going to be one of those nights again where he would barely get any sleep… Wheeler was going to pay big time for this, he vowed. This time in Spades.

* * *

What is Joey worried about being late to? How about Kaiba? Will he find the secret to Joey's power of anger management? And what does Mokuba have that could solve Kaiba's problems? If you review, you'll find out!


	3. My, How The Tables Have Turned

Thanks for the reviews, peoples! I know that writing a comedy/romance is kinda like mixing water and oil together, but it'll work out.

Summary: Joey and Kaiba always had, if you would call it that, a daily routine at school: Kaiba always came with an insult to him, then Joey snapped and got angry and it went on from there. One day, Kaiba comes up, looking to do the usual insults, but he is in for a rude awakening. (Not Literally)

Pairings so far: JoeyxOC, KaibaxOC.

"WHAT!?" Kaiba roared at his brother, who was now cowering in fear.

"Seto…I just thought…" Mokuba tried to explain.

"Thought what, Mokuba? Thought that I needed therapy? That I needed ANGER MANAGEMENT!?" He screamed.

"Calm down, Seto!"

"I AM CALM!" Kaiba then realized how he's acting, as well as noticing how scared his brother is right now. "Sorry Mokuba…it's just that today has been very stressful…"

"Did something happen at school today?" Mokuba asked the elder Kaiba.

"It's nothing, Mokuba…" Kaiba said as he then walked upstairs.

"But Seto…"

Kaiba ignored the objections of his little brother as he sighed. Anger Management? Therapy? Mokuba was mad! Him, actually seeing a therphist? That was like giving the Big Five a letter which read "Go ahead, take over Kaiba Corp!" And that sure as hell wasn't going to happen… It wasn't him who had a problem, it was Joey. He was the one who ruined the routine, and he wasn't going to let it stand for it!

….

At the Kaiba Land Dueling Arena, Kaiba smiled smugly as Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon stood on the field.

"Now prepare to fall like the dog that you are, Wheeler!" Kaiba declared. Even though they both had 500 life points, he felt that the victory was in the bag. Joey only had 1 monster card faced down in defense mode as neither of them had any spells or traps on the field. Now, my great beast! Destroy the dog's face-down card with Neutron Blast!"

As the fused Blue Eyes released its Neutron Blast, a wide smile formed across Joey's face. "Why thank you Kaiba?"

"For what, you fool?" Kaiba responded as then his face turned to shock as Joey's face down monster was revealed to be… "It can't be…"

"That's right!" Joey gave Kaiba a smug smile. "You just activated the special ability of my Man-Eater Bug. Say goodbye to yer Ultimate Dragon!"

"No!" Kaiba's eyes were wide in shock as both monsters disappeared from the field. Add to the fact that without any spell or trap cards on the field to defend himself, he was a sitting duck!

"Now to finish you off, Kaiba!" Joey said as he drew a card from his deck. "I now summon Swordsman of Landstar in attack mode!" The small elf-like warrior appeared on the field, must to Kaiba's shock. Couldn't Wheeler have at least the decency to defeat him with a high-level monster? Not only was it embarrassing, it was sad! Here he was, a Master Duelist, about to be defeated by, who he considered, the worst Duelist in the world who only won by luck, and to make matters worst, it was one of his weakest monsters in his deck.

"THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!?" Kaiba screamed.

"Swordsman of Landstar, attack Kaiba's directly. Wipe out the rest of his lifepoints!" Joey ordered as the small swordsman sliced away at Kaiba as his lifepoints went down to zero. "How's it feel to lose to a 3rd-Rate Mediocre Amateur?" He taunted as Kaiba was in disbelief of his loss. A crowd of people, including Joey's friends, gathered around him as they began to taunt...

"Kaiba got beat by an amateur! Kaiba got beat by an amateur! Kaiba got beat by an amateur!" They chanted as some laughed at him. Even Mokuba was there.

"Big Brother, you're so pathetic!" He said to Kaiba. "I'm ashamed to even be related to you!" Mokuba walks up to Joey. "Joey, would you be my big brother?"

Joey smiled as he ruffled Mokuba's hair. "Sure thing, Mokey!"

Kaiba was now crushed! It was already bad enough Joey humiliated him by beating him with a weak monster who only had 500 attack points, but now taking his little brother, let alone calling him "Mokey" was too far! "No!" He tried to grab Mokuba's hand, but Mokuba slapped it away.

"I don't want to be with a loser, let alone related to one." Mokuba sneered as he then walked away with his new brother and sister as well as their friends.

"Mokuba…don't leave me…no!"

Kaiba shot up from his bed, eyes wide as his face was full of sweat.

"Just a dream…" He said to himself silently, "…it was just a dream…" It was already hard enough that Wheeler's new attitude was causing him stress, but now interfering in his dreams? That was it, something had to be done!

The next day, Kaiba stepped out of the limo, briefcase in hand. Unlike yesterday, he wasn't going to let Wheeler get the best of him. After all, he was nowhere near his level. He was going to show him once and for all who was superior of the two, as well as make him an example of whoever decided to humiliate him like Wheeler did.

Speaking of the devil, there he was at his locker. Just like yesterday, Wheeler was organizing his books for the day. Today, instead of English he had Advanced Foods. Typical, Kaiba thought, of him to think with his stomach instead of his head. Well…it was time to get this over with and to put him in his place, once and for all.

Kaiba approached Joey as he took out from his pocket, what appeared to be a small milk bone.

"Here's a treat, Rover!" Kaiba said as he tossed the doggie treat to his face in a rude manner.

'Not again…' Joey thought in annoyance. Not really want deal with him. 'If pay no attention, he'll go away.'

"I showed him…" Kaiba said to himself as he turned back to see the results, but much to his dismay, he saw the doggie treat on the floor as Joey was closing his locker door, as if nothing happened. He stormed back and grabbed the treat from the ground and shoved it into Joey's face. "I said, 'Here's a treat, Rover!'"

Joey rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Kaiba?" He asked, almost in monotone.

"I wanted to see how dumb a hound like you could get, and you just proved my point! You still don't know when you're being insulted." Kaiba said, trying to push his buttons.

"Whatever, Kaiba…" Joey turned on a heel to walk off, but Kaiba slammed his hand onto the locker as he blocked Joey's direction.

"Now you listen to me you little worm!" Kaiba hissed. "This is how it's supposed to go! You do whatever you do in your pathetic life, I come over and insult you, and you start barking into a fight which causes you to land up flat on your face! Got it, Wheeler?"

"…are you done?"

At that point, Kaiba couldn't take it anymore as he then exploded. "YOU LISTEN TO ME YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT! I AM THE CEO OF ONE OF THE BIGGEST COMPANIES, AND AT A YOUNG AGE! I MAKE MORE MONEY A DAY MORE THAN ANY MONEY YOU'LL EVER SEE IN YOUR PATHETIC LIFE! HOW DARE YOU BRUSH ME OFF AS IF I'M SOME KIND OF INSECT! AND I REFUSE TO BE HUMILIATED BY ANYONE, LEAST OF ALL A PATHETIC IDIOTIC MUTT LIKE YOU WHO'S FATHER'S A DRUNK, WHO'S MOTHER WAS PROBABY A CHEAP WHORE, AND WHO'S SISTER IS A CLOSET-!"

"Umm…Kaiba?"

"DON'T YOU DARE INTTERUPT YOUR SUPERIRORS, BUT THEN AGAIN YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THAT, DO YOU DOG! I AM SETO KAIBA DAMN IT! I SHOULD BE RESPECTED AT ALL TIMES! PEOPLE LIKE YOU SHOULD BE WIPED OFF THE STREETS, IF NOT LYING BEFORE MY FEET!" Kaiba glared at Joey, "YOU GOT THAT THROUGH THAT PUNY BRAIN OF YOURS? DON'T YOU ROLL YOUR EYES AT ME! YOU LOOK ME IN THE EYES!

"…You, my friend, have lost it Kaiba-Boy!" Joey said, slightly below Kaiba's yelling as everyone was now watching...

"FOR ONE THING, I AM NOT YOUR FRIEND! AND TWO YOU DAMN RIGHT I'VE LOST IT! AND YOU KNOW WHAT? IT'S YOUR FAULT, WHEELER!" He then feels a tap on his shoulder as he looks. "NOT NOW, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I'M PUTTING THIS MUTT IN HIS PLACE RIGHT NOW?" Suddenly, Kaiba looked back again as he then recognized a black haired woman, who appeared to be in her mid-30s, dressed in a navy pants suit and black high heels as she glared at him. "Oh no…"

"Mr. Kaiba in my office…NOW!"

"But…" Kaiba tried to explain, but the principal's glare silenced him. Has he walked off, he looked towards Joey who had an "I tried to warn ya" look on his face.

In the principal's office, Kaiba sat down reluctantly. Wheeler had done it again, this time he was in even bigger trouble as the Principal then sat down, adjusting her wire-framed glasses a bit.

"Mr. Kaiba…" She began. "It appears that you've been acting…unusual as of late."

Kaiba only replied with a "feh" as the principal continued.

"This is the second day you've made an outburst, one that grabbed the attention of the entire student body. Now tell me, is there something that's troubling you?"

"What's bothering me is none of your concern…" Kaiba simply says.

The Principal sighs as she twirls a long black strand from the bangs of her hair. "Well…when that something, whatever it is, is influencing your behavior, which is to take things out on Teachers and Fellow Students, it becomes my concern as Principal of Domino High. Now Mr. Kaiba..." She glares. "Do you care to tell me what's going on, or is a suspension needed?

Kaiba scoffed, "A suspension? More like a blessing for me…" He knew that if he got suspended, he'd have more time to run Kaiba Corp and possibly spend some time with Mokuba.

"Okay then…Mr. CEO…" The Principal Smiled, as if she had the perfect thing in mind. "Since you put it that way…" She now opens a drawer in her desk as she pulls out a folder. "I'm going to place you in a support group."

"Let me guess: It's an Anger Management group, right? Funny, my little brother suggested the same thing yesterday."

"Oh really?" She adjusted her glasses as Kaiba continued.

"And I'll tell you what I told him! This is none of your concern!"

"I can see why your little brother's concerned." She explains. "Having too much stress could cause so much frustration that you may become aggressive, maybe even violent. Perhaps you may become prone to violence. You might even, dare I say, take it out on your little brother. Then you'll be seen as an unfit parent and family services would have to take Mokuba away and put him under foster care.

Kaiba hasn't really thought about the situation that much, but when Mokuba was mentioned, he was now deeply in fear. Mokuba lived for Kaiba, and for him to be taken away from his big brother would be too much for him to handle, especially after the fact that they've already lost their parents. Basically the only family Seto and Mokuba Kaiba had left were each other.

With a sigh, Kaiba clutched his head. "Alright then…when's the first session…"

School was out as Kaiba was leaving his final class of the day as he was now going towards his next destination: Detention. Thanks to (in his mind) Joey, he was to spend one more humiliating day in the room with the other losers and delinquents.

Speak of the Devil, Joey was leaving his last class of the day as then, a girl with Long Golden Blonde hair with the sides spilt in ponytails by red bows approached him. At first glance, she was barely as tall as Serenity.

"So you don't have detention?" She asked Joey.

"Nah, and I'm planning on keepin' it that way. That is unless Kaiba gets really desperate." He replied, not knowing that the person in question was watching them.

She giggled. "Good…now you could actually make it on time!"

Kaiba wasn't sure what was going on between them, but by the way they were acting, it was safe to say that they were pretty close. As the girl wrapped her arm around Joey's waist, a grin came to Kaiba's face. Two words came to mind: New Material.

"So when are we gonna meet your friends?" She asked, with a touch of perkiness. "I've been dying to meet them."

"Well…well…well…" Kaiba walked over with a smirk. "Looks like the dog's finally found himself a bitch." He said, looking over at the girl.

Joey sighed, "What now, Kaiba?" These confrontations with Kaiba were getting old and bland, and he for one was sick of them.

"Nice little girlfriend you got there, Wheeler. So I guess that makes you the little puppy." He says looking at the girl.

"Hey, I have a name." She retorted. "Arisa Mallovic, thank you very much!"

"Well, 'Arisa,' I don't really care who you are, but I know what you are: Just another low-class geek who should be bowing down at my feet. Wheeler knows his place, and now you know yours."

"You're right, he is a jerk." Arisa whispered aside to Joey.

"Kaiba…you are what we like to call an attention whore!" Joey stated.

Kaiba seethed as he clenched his teeth together and balled his fists. "What…did…you…call me?"

Arisa wasn't exactly happy either. "That was a bit mean, Joey."

"No, seriously. Kaiba's just doing all of these things just for attention: The name callin', the humiliatin', everything just so he can get some attention. Kaiba can't stand it when he's not the center of attention."

"But then why does he always target you with the insults?" She counters.

Joey chuckled, "You tell me and then we'll both know." He said in a you-got-me-there voice.

"Well at least I'm not a cradle rocker like you, Wheeler!" Kaiba retorted. "After all, how old is your _little_ girlfirend, 12?" If he couldn't get him angry by insulting him, maybe he could by insulting who appeared to be his new girlfriend. "Did you happen to find your big sister's shrunken uniform in the closet or something?" He asked Arisa

Arisa narrowed her eyes. "Now I see why you would get upset, Joey!"

"You better be careful Kaiba." Joey warned. "You remembered what happened yesterday…"

"Please, your sister only caught me off guard otherwise she wouldn't have even laid a finger on me. Besides, you need to be more worried about yourself. I mean, what would everyone say when they find out that you have Lolita Complex? Let's face it! She can't be older than 12! Isn't that right, _little_ girl?"

Joey sighed, "It's about to hit the fan, Kaiba…"

"What is she going to do to me, Wheeler? Cry, run home, and tell her mommy?" Kaiba continued to taunt, hoping to get Joey angry. However, someone was getting angry, and it wasn't him. Kaiba then once again felt a sudden force of pain in his crotch.

Arisa smiled, removing her foot from Kaiba's crotch as she watched him go down-literally! "How does it feel to be taken down by a 'twelve-year old,' Kaiba?" She asked sweetly.

Now on his knees, Kaiba was seething as he clutched the now-bruised-again anatomy of his body. This was the second time he was kicked in the groin this week: First by Serenity, and now by her! Once again, it was all Joey's fault! If the mongrel would've attacked him just as he was supposed to, all of this would've been avoided.

"Let's go Joey!" Arisa suggested.

"Good idea…" Joey nodded as he Arisa began to walk off. Joey stopped for a second as he looked at the fallen CEO in pity, shaking his head. "My how the tables have turned, Kaiba! I would call this 'sad,' but that'd be restatin' the obvious." He remembered at Duelist Kingdom, Joey at one point was on his knees in front of Kaiba. Now it was Kaiba who was on his knees before him.

"Pretty smooth coming from someone who need girls to fight for him, much less younger ones." Kaiba retorted, in an attempt to save face.

"I should've told ya this before you decided to make an ass out of yerself for the third time: I don't fight anymore unless I have to. I mean, who the hell wants to be with a psychopath who fights all the time?"

"Damn you, Wheeler…" Kaiba hissed as he had a "Now he tells me" expression on his face.

"You should try anger management, Kaibs." He suggested. "It did wonders for me."

"Damn you…" Kaiba narrowed his eyes as he watched Joey walk off. Suddenly, a familiar voice spoke from behind him.

"Are you coming Mr. Kaiba, or do you need a week's worth of detention?"

Kaiba got back up on his feet as he looked at the source of the voice. It was that blasted teacher, Mr. Morto. The teacher who gave him the additional day of detention, complements of Joey. "I'm coming…" He muttered as he reluctantly walked into the room.

--------------------------------------

That was it for this chapter: Kaiba tried to once again get Joey angry with name-calling, as well as taking a shot at apparently Joey's girlfriend. Also, it appears that Kaiba will be going to get some help, whether he likes it or not. If you thought Kaiba already had enough problems with Joey and his teachers, wait until next chapter. I don't want to spoil it, but let's just say he has a talk with someone close to him, even closer than Mokuba.


	4. Conscience?

Looks like I got this chapter done sooner than I thought. Anyway, here it is:

Summary: Joey and Kaiba always had, if you would call it that, a daily routine at school: Kaiba always came with an insult to him, then Joey snapped and got angry and it went on from there. One day, Kaiba comes up, looking to do the usual insults, but he is in for a rude awakening. (Not Literally)

Pairings so far: JoeyxOC, KaibaxOC.

* * *

In detention, Kaiba just sat in the back row while everyone else was doing their thing. Normally if he didn't have anything important to do, he'd take out his laptop to do some work. However, since he wasn't allowed to, he'd have to just sit quietly and what appeared to be drawing.

"Wheeler will pay for this insult…" He muttered to himself as he drew. At a closer glance, it appeared to be a picture of himself stabbing a person who appeared to be Joey, only in a dog suit. On the top were scratch-like words which read "Die Wheeler!" "It's his fault I'm in this hell hole in the first place! If he would've been a good dog and take his insults the way he supposed to, I-"

"Wouldn't be here in the first place?" A voice similar to his but a bit younger finished for him.

"Exactly! Finally someone who- Huh?" Kaiba looked to the right for the source of the voice. Much to his shock, it was a kid wearing a navy vest over a yellow long-sleeved collared shirt, black pants, and grey sneakers. The bigger shock was that he looked exactly like him, only years younger.

"Who are you?" He hissed. "If Noah managed to-"

"I'm your conscience, Seto Kaiba! Don't you remember me?" The smaller, more younger version of Kaiba walked over to an empty chair beside him and sit down. I've only just taken the appearance of your younger self.

"I think you have me confused with someone who actually has one."

"Now now Seto, you've haven't seen me for so long that you forgot you had one." He sighed. "So Detention…how'd you get yourself here?"

"Wheeler…" He hissed. "It's his fault I'm in here!"

"Really?"

"Yes really! He's the cause of all of my problems!"

"What did Joey Wheeler do that caused you so many problems?"

"I'll tell you what, he ruined the routine!"

"What routine?" Seto blinked. (A/N: For now on I'll refer to his conscience as "Seto.")

"I always insult him, and then he gets angry and complains, usually in a violent way. Then I knock him down and humiliate him like the dog that he is."

"Why?"

"Because Mutts like him need to be put in their places: Beneath me!"

"Why is he a 'Mutt,' Seto?"

"Because he just is!"

"Then what is your definition of 'Mutt?'" Seto challenged.

"What…?" Kaiba seethed.

"What is a 'Mutt?' I'd like to know."

"Fine! A mutt is plain and simple. Look at Joey Wheeler and you'll see my definition."

"Well…since you won't give me a clear definition. Then-"

"I don't have to tell you anything, you little runt!" Kaiba snapped at his conscience.

"Mr. Kaiba!" Morto called as Kaiba looked at the teacher. Kaiba could feel the stares coming from his classmates. "Do you need another week of detention?"

"No sir…" Kaiba sighed as he sunk in his chair.

"Then please refrain from talking." Morto said as he went back to grading papers, perhaps for another class.

"You see what being a jerk gets you, Seto Kaiba?" Seto said in an I-told-ya-so type of voice.

"Go away…" Kaiba seethed. "I already have enough problems without having you around."

"Maybe you wouldn't have those problems if you weren't a jerk."

"You know what I went through, so it's not my fault I'm the way I am!"

"That may be so, but that doesn't give you the right to take out your problems on others, especially Joey Wheeler."

Kaiba scoffed, "What does Wheeler have to do with this, anyway?"

"Isn't he the one who you take out most your aggressions on, besides your employees?" Seto reminded.

"What I do in my social life does not concern you!"

"I believe that it does, since I am your conscience after all…"

"Leave…" Kaiba hissed. He doesn't want to have anything to do with his conscience, much less in detention.

"Okay Seto Kaiba, but I'll be back…" And with a flash, Seto was gone, leaving Kaiba alone with Morto and the other students who had detention.

"Hmm…maybe I should stop pulling all-nighters…" Kaiba pondered as he went back to his drawing.

"What is up with that guy?" Arisa asked as she and Joey were leaving the school.

"Beats me…" Joey shrugged.

"What did you do to get Kaiba angry with you?"

"You tell me and we'll both know. At least he wasn't as bad as he was before…"

Arisa blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Let's just say that he's not out to kill anyone anymore." Joey said.

"You mean that Kaiba-"

"It's a long story…" Joey said as they were now on the sidewalk.

Arisa stopped. "Hey Joey…"

He looked back. "Yeah?"

"Could you carry me?" She asked.

"Uhh…sure." Joey nodded. "Why?"

"My feet are killing me…" Arisa admitted as she began to untie the laces of her black shoes. "I hate these shoes. They look so lame and they're uncomfortable as hell! I mean, these are shoes that my grandma would wear."

"Why don't you just buy new ones?" Joey suggested.

"I don't get my allowance until Friday. So for the rest of the week, I'm gonna be like you and wear sneakers." She slips out of them as she then tied the laces of both shoes together to keep them from getting lost. She then tossed them over her shoulder while holding onto the strings as she jumped onto Joey's back for a piggyback ride.

"So I take it we're goin' to yer house first?" Joey asked.

"Yeppers!" Arisa smiled. "Then it's to your house! I like to meet your mom…your dad wouldn't be around, right?"

"Nah...thank god…" Joey sighed in relief. "He's back in New York so there's no way he's coming back.

"Awesome!" Arisa squeezed her arms, which were around Joey's neck, tightly which caused him to gag a little.

"Arisa, take it easy." He complained.

"Oh…" Arisa giggled, "Sorry."

"S'okay… I'm used to it from my sister." He explained.

"Aren't you a nice guy!"

"I try…"

The two continued to laugh and talk until they came to a small teal-colored house. Arisa then hopped off of Joey's back.

"This is my house!" She said as she began to walk towards the door, with her magenta backpack in one hand, her shoes dangling by their laces in the other. "You want to come in?"

"Sorry, I gotta get home and change too!" Joey reminded.

"Oh come on!" Arisa pleaded as she then used her secret weapon: The dreaded "Chibi-Eyes." "Just for a second?"

Joey sighed, after making the mistake of looking at her emerald green eyes, "Oh alright! Might as well meet yer parents while we're at it…" He now follows her up the steps.

Kaiba's eyes opened up as he saw that the classroom was empty. "I must've overslept," he figured as he got up from his desk and grabbed his briefcase.

"Now with that crap over, time to make up the work I'd missed…" Kaiba muttered as he proceeded to leave the room. However, what he saw outside was not what he expected.

Instead of the familiar hallway with lockers and other doors leading to other classrooms, he saw what it appeared to be some type of computer lab.

"Did I end up in some type of cyber world?" Kaiba wondered as he continued to walk. "Probably another one of Wheeler's pathetic jokes…" He figured as he walked on. The path itself appeared to be never ending as Kaiba was already becoming annoyed. He was now certain that he was no longer in the school.

"Come on out and show yourself, Wheeler!" Kaiba demanded, but the only thing he heard was his voice in echo. "Wheeler, if you don't come out here, I swear to god I will fucking kill you!" Again, he could only hear himself echo as Kaiba walked on. After walking a few more feet, he approached a large computer screen which instantly switched on. It showed his picture with 5 golden stars below, and on the right was a picture of his most rarest card: Blue Eyes White Dragon.

"_Name: Seto Kaiba. Rank: Five Stars. Rarest Card: Blue Eyes White Dragon."_ A voice from the computer stated.

"Tell me something I don't know…" Kaiba muttered as smirk came to his face. He remembered how he humiliated Joey by ranking him as a One-Star duelist, even though he was the runner up at Duelist Kingdom. He wished that he was there to see the look on his face when he saw his rank. He knew that it was unfair, but then again. How could he possibly be good duelist if he uses a Gamble Deck?

Suddenly, the screen flashed as the picture of the Blue Eyes White Dragon Card was replaced with three. Kaiba blinked in response. "What the hell?"

The Screen flashed again, as this time three cards disappeared from the screen as Three Blue Eyes appeared in front of him, much to Kaiba's shock. "What is the meaning of this!?"

"Seto Kaiba!" One of them roared. "You are not worthy of having us in your deck!"

"Why would we ever serve a malicious murderer such as you, Kaiba?" The second hissed.

"What are you talking about?" Kaiba responded to the dragons.

"How could you not!?" The third Blue Eyes snapped. "You killed our brother, Murderer!"

"What are you talking about, there's only-" Kaiba just remembered: Yugi's Grandfather owned a Blue Eyes before he ripped it apart. 'I knew that would come back to haunt me one day…' He thought.

"As my brother said before Kaiba, you are not worthy of having us in your deck! There is only one person who is worthy of having us in his deck!"

"That's impossible, there's no duelist in the world more worthy than me!" Kaiba yelled as suddenly a figure walked out from the shadows. He was wearing black and white sneakers, black jeans… "No…" White T-shirt… "No, it can't be…" Denim Blue Jacket… "No please… anyone but him! If there's any justice in this world, it's not him!" Brown eyes, and slightly-messy blonde hair! "No…NOT WHEELER!"

"What's the matter, Moneybags?" Joey smiled. "Yer not happy to see me?"

"Mutt, if you don't give me my Blue Eyes back right now…" Kaiba threatened.

"I don't think yer in any position to make threats right now, Seahorse." Joey retorted.

"I'm warning you…" Kaiba seethed. "Give me the Blue Eyes, right now!"

"Hey Big Bro, what's going on?" Serenity walked up, dressed in the Domino Middle School female uniform.

"It's nothing, Sis. Just hanging with Kaibs and the Blue Eyes." Joey grinned.

"Come on, Joey!" a familiar ran up to him, dressed in the Domino High School female Uniform. "I want to play with the Blue Eyes, too!"

"You…" Kaiba muttered, within closer inspection, Kaiba knew who she was. "You're that girl who was with Wheeler! Mallovic, right?"

Arisa ignored Kaiba as she continued to ask, "Please Joey!" She gave him the chibi eyes.

"Can I play with them too, Big Brother?" Serenity asked, also giving him the chibi eyes.

"Damn, not the eyes…" Joey complained. Kaiba would've been amused, had it not been for the fact that for some reason, Joey had control of _his_ Blue Eyes, and Serenity and Arisa, two girls who have been responsible for his testicles being bruised for two days straight counting today, were now asking to use them. This was an outrage! "Oh alright, you can take one. After all, there are three of them here!"

"THE HELL YOU'RE TAKING ONE!" Kaiba roared. "THOSE ARE MY BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGONS AND YOU KNOW IT JOEY WHEELER! THEY BELONG FOR ME!"

Joey shook his head in pity while giving a small smile. "Kaiba Kaiba Kaiba…"

"Kaiba Kaiba Kaiba…" His sister and girlfriend copied Joey's actions.

"You have a lot to learn about Dragons. For one: You don't choose them, _they_ choose _you_! And two…" The Three Blue Eyes landed on the ground next to Joey and co. Joey, Arisa, and Serenity each have a dragon next to them. "They're great for teaching certain snobbish, heartless bastards a lesson."

"DON'T YOU DARE LECTURE ME ABOUT MY DRAGONS YOU STUPID MONGREL!" Kaiba yelled. "LIKE I SAID BEFORE, I WANT MY DRAGONS, AND I'M NOT LEAVING UNTIL I GET THEM!"

Joey sighed. "You want them, you got 'em…" He then looked towards his sister on one side, and his girlfriend on the other.

"Blue Eyes, attack position!" The three ordered as their Blue Eyes got into attack position.

"YOU WOULDN'T DARE, WHEELER…" Kaiba taunted.

"Blue Eyes White Dragon, attack with White Lightning!" They ordered as the Blue Eyes fired their White Lightning directly at Kaiba.

Kaiba, fearing that the end was near, tried to shield himself from the three blasts, but knew that it was futile as he then let out a painful scream as the blasts hit.

Kaiba's head snapped up from the desk, wide eyed. It was just another dream again. That was the second time Joey invaded his dreams. Now it appeared that everone has left, saved for Morto.

"So you're finally awake Mr. Kaiba." Morto said with a grin. "You're free to go."

"Thanks…" Kaiba muttered as he grabbed his briefcase and left the room. It was just another nightmare, but this time was worse. At least Wheeler didn't take control of his cards in the first nightmare like he did in this one. "Why am I having these nightmares…"

"I don't know… maybe because you have bad karma?" A familiar young voice suggests.

Kaiba looked down and saw his conscience. "You!"

"Maybe your guilt is finally catching up with you, thus why they're interfering in your dreams: The ripping of Yugi's grandfather's Blue Eyes White Dragon card, the unfair ranking of Joey Wheeler just so you could humiliate him. Just to name a few…" Seto chuckled. "As they say, 'what goes around comes around!'"

"If I needed someone to dictate on how to live my life, I might give you a call. Otherwise, butt out!"

"Need I remind you that if you don't change your ways, your dreams may become a reality."

Kaiba narrowed his eyes. "So you're the reason why I'm having these dreams. Why you little-"

Seto held up his hands in defense. "Nonono, I don't make dreams, I just observe them."

"Whatever…" Kaiba brushed off his younger self of a conscience. "I have more important things to do…"

"Ahh yes, another stressful day at Kaiba Corp…or should I say night? You're really the workaholic, aren't you?"

"It keeps me and Mokuba out of poverty, does it not?" Kaiba retorted.

"Yes, but is the well-being of you and Mokie more important than money?"

"If I don't have money, we'll be out on the street and Mokuba will be at an orphanage!" Kaiba blinked. "Did you just call Mokuba 'Mokie?'"

"Of course! After all, I am your conscience so I know a lot about you." Seto stated.

Kaiba snickered. "Know about me? Try to prove it."

"Okay then…" Seto sighed. "You're the CEO of Kaiba Corp, a weapon-development-turned-gaming company. You were placed into an orphanage after your parents died. Adopted at the age of 12 by Gozaburo Kaiba. Former World Champion of Duel Monsters! Favorite Card is Blue Eyes White Dragon, the Number One Duelist aside from Yugi Moto and Maximillion Pegasus!"

"Hmph…any good hacker could've found that information out! The new direction of the Kaiba Corporation was broadcasted worldwide so any moron with a TV would've known. And as far as Duel Monsters goes." Kaiba hmphed, "Let's just say that if I had every dime for every fool who told me that, I'd be three times richer than I already am."

"Okay then, let's get personal…" Seto sighed. "Your favorite type of music is classical. You enjoy Stephen King books! You at one time dyed your hair green, but decided that you were better as a brunette. And your shoe size is 13!"

Kaiba laughed. "Good one. That's really embarrassing." He said sarcastically.

"Okay then… now for the juicy stuff…" The young boy rubbed his hands together with a mischievous grin. "Your favorite part of a woman is the…well…busoms. Your dream girl is tall, leggy, has nice eyes, and of course…" Seto cups his hands as he then does a squeezing motion. "Your idea of a good date is a dinner, a move, a nice romantic walk on the beach which is immediately followed by s-"

"Enough!" Kaiba hissed at Seto. "For someone who's a kid, you sure have some perverted thoughts!"

"Just because I may look like a kid doesn't mean I have to think like one." Seto said with a chuckle.

"I wish you were…" Kaiba muttered, but then had the thought of "Seto" being even more annoying as a kid. "Nevermind."

Seto chuckled. "You see? I know everything about you!"

"Whatever…" Kaiba muttered as he walked towards his limo.

* * *

Wow…who would've thought that Kaiba actually had a conscience. Okay, so he does have one, but he hardly ever listens to it, if ever. Anyways, next chapter! Joey introduces Arisa to the gang. However, not everyone will be happy to see her. That's all I'm gonna say.


	5. Meeting The Gang, Kaiba: Like A Balloon

Here ya go, the next installment of A Different Beat!

* * *

It was 5 O'clock as Joey and Arisa were leaving a YMCA building. Prior to their arrival, they've changed from their school uniforms into more casual attire. Joey wore his usual white T-shirt, Jeans, and sneakers as Arisa wore a plaid skirt, medium-sleeved-length shirt, and white platform boots.

"That was fun!" Arisa smiled at Joey.

"You can say that again." Joey grinned as he placed his hands on the back of his head. "I've never felt this good in a long time."

"So, what now? The arcade?" Arisa pondered.

"Sure! Besides, I wanna whip yer tail in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 again!" Joey grinned.

"Only because I let you win!" Arisa smirked. "Alright then…loser buys the winner whatever _she_ wants to eat." She challenged, knowing that she'll win.

"Yer on!" Joey grinned. "And I like to have an orange Fanta…make that two cans!"

"Okay then…on your marks…" Arisa, as well as Joey got into starting position. "Get set…" With a giggle, Arisa sprinted off.

"Hey! No fair, ya lil' cheat!" Joey protested as he raced after her.

At the Arcade, Yugi, Bakura, and Tristan were cheering as Tea won for the 5th time today on the DDR machine.

"Can anyone beat her?" Tristan wondered as Tea's challenger, a green-haired girl who was wearing a uniform different from their own, stepping off the DDR machine.

"There maybe someone who can…" Yugi suggested. "You just never know! Maybe someone any minute now would walk in and dethrone the Dancing Queen.

"Good point! Who would've thought that a pipsqueak like you could defeat Kaiba out of the blue?" Tristan joked, which earned a playful punch on the shoulder from Yugi.

"Hey!" Yugi protested.

The door opened as a familiar face walked in, slightly out of breath. "That's it, Arisa…you owe me not one, but two Fantas!"

Arisa walked in with a smirk, also breathing deeply. "I was wearing heels and you still barely beat me. But that fact alone is worth the 2 dollars."

"Remember just how I like em: Strawberry flavored, chilled and not shaken." Joey reminded.

"Hey Joey!" Tristan called out to greet his friend. "What's up?"

"Hey Tristan!" Joey greeted him with a high five. "So what's goin'?"

"I think I should be asking you the same question, man! Or should I ask your lady friend!" Tristan turned to Arisa, which made her giggle.

"Arisa, that's Tristan." Joey introduced. "Tristan, that's Arisa, but to you, she's off-limits!" He warned, knowing Tristan all too well when it came to girls.

Tristan snickered, hearing his own words again since the day he and Serenity ran into Duke while running from the Rare Hunters, as Yugi and Bakura came over.

"What's up guys?" Yugi asked as he then noticed Arisa. "Oh hi Arisa!"

"Hey Yugi!" Arisa greeted.

"Err…you two know each other?" Joey asked.

"Of course, Joey!" Arisa nodded.

"Arisa used to come by the shop!" Yugi explained.

"Okay, then why didn't we see you around then, Arisa?" Joey asked.

"Yeah!" Tristan added. "We practically live at the game shop!"

"Remember the period when you and Joey were still bullies?" Bakura reminded. "That may explain on how they know each other without you knowing."

"Good point…" Joey sighed, still not believing how much of a jerk he was.

"So what brings you here, Arisa?" Yugi asked.

"Well, Joey-kun and I decided to have a little rematch of Marvel vs. Capcom 2!" Arisa explained.

"After she gets me two fantas!" Joey reminded Arisa.

"Right…but why would you want two fantas, anyway?"

"Umm…maybe because I'm, y'know, thirsty?"

"Why would you want two cans of soda pop when I could give you something even better?" Arisa grinned, challenging him.

"Like what?" Joey asked, a bit skeptical.

"Anything…as long as it doesn't have anything to do with money!"

"Hey guys!" Tea walked over to the gang and saw that it possibly has a new member. "What's up?"

"Joey's got himself a new girlfriend, and she's trying to get out of some bet they had prior to coming here." Tristan explained.

"Joey has a girlfriend!?" Tea responded, skeptically.

"Okay then, but what's in it for you?" Joey asked, seeing that there's a catch.

"The catch is…" Arisa grinned. "That I get your Red Eyes Black Dragon card when I win!"

Joey blinked. "You can't be serious!"

"As a heart attack, Luvvy!" Arisa walked over to the game machine labeled "Marvel vs. Capcom 2."

"Let me guess: You want to place this wager on a game of MvC2?" Joey guessed.

"I thought that was obvious! Jeez Joey, I love ya, but you can be so dense at times…"

"Let's just play!" Joey joined her as the game started, with Yugi, Tristan, Tea, and Bakura watching. It was a pretty close match, too close to call. But at the end, Joey's team of Wolverine (Bone Claws Version), Ken, and Venom came up short against Arisa's team of Cammy, Cable, and Iceman.

"Whoa…she's good!" Tristan commented as the game was over.

"But it could've gone either way." Yugi reminded, seeing the small amount of health of Iceman, Arisa's last fighter, who was, to add insult to injury, ice beaming at the fallen Venom.

"But still Yug, I've never seen a girl play that good!"

Tea just examined Arisa, not saying a word to her. There was something odd about her. Normally girls would rather go onto the DDR machine than to play games, let alone fighting games. But she appeared to be an expert at this game.

"Cough it up, Joe!" Arisa giggled as she extended her hand, her palm upwards. "Your Red Eyes Black Dragon, please!"

Joey moaned as he reached into his pocket and produced a Red Eyes Black Dragon Monster Card. "Here!"

"Poor Joey…" Bakura muttered, feeling sorry for him. "But it was his decision."

With a sigh, Joey left the machine as he now walked towards the vending machine. Arisa noticed as she then followed.

"Oh come on, Joey! I never thought of you being a whiny sore loser!" Arisa protested.

"It's not that. I have two more of them at home!" Joey stated as he placed a dollar into the machine. "I'm just thirsty."

"What do you mean you 'have two more of them at home?' Is there something you're not telling me Joey Wheeler?"

"I'm serious! Until now I had three Red Eyes Black Dragons." Joey explained.

"Aww…But I wanted it to be special." Arisa whined. "What's the fun in winning it if you only have few more left for back up?"

"That's the first Red Eyes that I won, from duel against Rex Raptor at Duelist Kingdom!" He explained.

"Oh!" Arisa smiled. "I'll take good care of Reddy Dragon!"

Joey slightly cringed at the nickname she gave her new dragon card. "Right…"

Yugi watched on from the machine. "They make a cute couple."

"I guess…" Tristan sighed. "Hopefully now that he's with Arisa he could care less if I tried to sweep Serenity off her feet."

"Oh God Tristan, that's soo good for you, isn't it? Is Serenity all that you ever think about?" Tea protested.

"Oh come on Tea! What's with you?"

"Tristan's right. Ever since Joey got here with Arisa, you seem to be rather cold." Bakura said.

"You're talking about the reason why Joey hasn't been hanging out with us as much as he used to?" Tea responded.

"Why are you so angry, Tea?" Yugi asked, concerned.

"Oh come on, Yugi! Like you don't see it right in front of you, after school, we all used to hang out together. Now Joey goes to some place without even telling us about it. And the only time we see him is at school, or on weekends if we're lucky! It's like we don't know him anymore…"

"Did you bother to even ask him about where he goes?" Bakura asked Tea.

"No…well…it's not like I actually had the chance." Tea stated.

"Well…looks like now have your chance…" Yugi stated as he saw Joey and Arisa heading towards them, hand in hand. "So what took you guys so long?"

"Nothin' really…" Joey replied, "Just some small talk!"

"Joey, can I ask you a question?" Tea asked, taking a glimpse at Arisa.

"Sure, Tea!"

"Where have you been after school?" She asked, almost in a nagging tone.

"What are you, my mother all of the sudden?" Joey responded, annoyed.

"Tea's right. You have been distant from us." Yugi said, adding in his two cents. "We're just worried about you."

"Yeah man, what's the secret?" Tristan asked.

"It's a long story…" Arisa said.

"We got time." Tea hastily said, arms crossed and all. "So why have you been flaking on us, Joey?"

"Okay, _Ma_!" Joey narrowed his eyes at Tea. "Grab a chair you guys, this may take a while."

The gang went to a table. However, since there were only 4 chairs, they had to bring in a few extras.

"Okay Joey, now tell us what's up?" Tea demanded.

"Okay…remember when I flipped out in class that time?" Joey asked.

"How could I forget? You got suspended for two whole weeks." Yugi remembered it all too well. Kaiba had got Joey into trouble again, and as expected, the teacher took Kaiba's side. Joey became sick of it and told the teacher exactly how he felt about her, the school, and Kaiba. He remembered the words perfectly. He'd called her a "Fucking pompous bitch who's her head stuck up so far in Moneybags' ass no one could tell where he end and she began." A trip to the principal's office later and he was then suspended for two weeks.

"Well…you guys all know I got suspended for two weeks. But that's not all that's happened. The principal put me into this program."

"What program?" Tristan asked.

"It's for kids who have personal issues. Like me." Joey explained.

Everyone was shock, especially Yugi and Tristan. Tristan always thought that Joey had some issues in his life, but he didn't think that they were that serious.

Joey continued, "With my dad being abusive, overall poor living conditions and all, I was quite the package."

With an exception for Arisa, everyone else's eyes went wide at that realization. No one, not even Yugi or Tristan knew that Joey had to go through all of that. Hell, even Serenity probably didn't know about it.

"And you didn't even bother to tell anyone?" Tea responded.

"Hey! I had no idea where my Mother was, and besides! Knowing him, my dad would've killed me if I told someone, then kill them." He said. "Besides Arisa and everyone who's in the group, you're the only ones I've told this too."

"But still, you could've been killed! That was probably the stupidest thing you ever did!"

"Hey, lay off him alright!?" Arisa snapped at Tea. "You wouldn't know anything about that, now would you Tea? How it feels to go through all of that everyday! The fear? The pain? The loneliness?"

"And how would _you_ know, Arisa?" Tea asked, harshly.

"BECAUSE THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I WENT THROUGH!" She screamed, causing everyone's eyes to go up. "Before I moved to Domino, my life was one big pile of shit where my pops was an abuser, boozer, and loser who wasn't very shitty to my mom and ignored me when he wasn't hitting me or even trying to…trying to…" Tears began to come out from her eyes as she then got out of her chair and ran off.

"Arisa wait!" Joey called out, but she had already left. He then glared at Tea. "Nice goin', Tea!"

Tea tried to explain, "But-"

"Save it!" Joey hissed, cutting her off as he went off to follow Arisa.

"I'll go with ya!" Tristan was about to leave his chair.

"No Tristan, I gotta do this on my own…"

"Okay buddy…" Tristan sat back down as he glared at Tea.

"I'm sorry…I didn't-"

"Yeah Tea, you didn't!" Bakura responded, not very happy with Tea's behavior.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Tea…" Yugi said.

"Just what the hell is your problem, Tea!?" Tristan snapped. "Joey manages to find a girlfriend, and instead of you being happy for him, you treat her as if she was the enemy! Seriously, what the hell did she ever do to you?"

"Why are you defending her anyway, Tristan?" Now it was Tea's turn to snap. "Other than she's just another piece of ass to you, that's why you're so oblivious to what's happening!"

"What's happening, Tea?" Tristan asked sarcastically.

"Don't you see? Ever since he's been hanging out with her, Joey's been distant with us! I mean come on, he tells his deepest, darkest secret to some stranger instead of telling us! It's like he doesn't have time for us anymore…"

"So you think that Arisa's stealing Joey from us?" Tristan asked, annoyed.

Yugi looked at Tea blankly. "Tea…"

"Yes?" Tea looked at Yugi.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous." He said.

Tea blinked. "Jealous? Why would I be jealous over someone, let alone someone who's dating Joey of all people?" She then gave a "you believe that, right?" look.

"First you chased off Arisa for some reason, and now you're playing the denial card?" Tristan responded, apparently he had it up to here with Tea's attitude.

"I'm sorry, but when a girl is that perky and is head over heels for Joey, something's up." Tea said.

"So what are you saying? No legit girl would want to date Joey?" Bakura asked.

"No…I'm not saying that!"

"You could've fooled me!" Tristan narrowed his eyes.

"Look, I don't want to talk about this anymore! Goodbye!" Tea got up from her chair and stormed out of the door.

"Tea, wait!" Yugi called out, but it was too late. Tea was already gone.

"Let her go!" Tristan muttered, feeling that he could care less about Tea. "To be honest I was about to leave if she didn't."

"Tristan, how could you say that?" Yugi retorted.

"Oh come on, Yugi! Everything that's happened is all Tea's fault: She practically made Arisa feel unwelcome from the start and made her run off crying. Now Joey's pissed off at her, and when we ask her a question why she hates her, she comes up with that ridiculous excuse! So what if he hasn't been around us as much as he used to. Tell me, if you had a girlfriend would you want to spend as much time as you would with her?"

Yugi and Bakura nodded in agreement. They had to admit that by the way Tea acted was out of line and immature.

Arisa continued to run as far as her legs could run. How could Joey be friends with a person like that? And he thought that Kaiba was a jerk? Tea was a grade-A bitch tonight. She then made it to the park as she then sat down on a bench as she bawled her eyes out with her head in her hands.

"Hey Arisa!" A familiar voice called out for her, but she didn't want to see anyone at the moment.

"Go away!" She shouted with her voice somewhat cracking. "Just leave me alone!"

Joey walked up to her. "You don't even want to talk to yer boyfriend?" He waited for Arisa to answer, but her silence said it all. "I got it, I'll leave ya alone." With a sigh he turned around and prepared to leave.

"Why is your friend such a bitch?" Arisa asked, looking at Joey.

Normally, Joey would've got pissed if someone dissed his friends, with some exception of his friends. But he didn't because one: Thanks to the group, he was now a more calm, laid back person. And two: He had to agree. He sighed. "I dunno… Usually Tea isn't like this."

"Not usually like this? Come on, Joey! You saw the looks she gave me. You saw how she really felt about me." Arisa argued with him.

"Yeah…I did. Tea and I are gonna have a _long_ talk about this." Joey sat on the bench next to Arisa

"Well…at least the rest of your friends don't seem to be against us being together." Arisa said.

"Yugi and Bakura are probably happy for us. And the only reason why Tristan wouldn't is because he's jealous that he doesn't have you."

Arisa giggled, feeling a little better. "So are we really a couple?"

"Of course!" Joey smiled, placing an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

Arisa's head rested on Joey's shoulders. "I'm glad…"

"Me too…"

Arisa then moved herself from Joey, having a smile on her face. "Then why don't we go over to your house?"

"What?"

"You know, to meet your mom and your sister!" Arisa chirped.

"Now?" Joey complained. "You serious?"

"Yes! I figure since you've already telling people about us? Why stop at your friends?"

"Great…another mouth to feed…" Joey muttered.

"And what's wrong with that, Joey Wheeler?" Arisa placed her hands on her hips.

"Now I gotta cook for four!" He said. "Ma doesn't like to cook much so I do most of the cooking, plus she usually works at night so it's probably gonna be Serenity and me."

"Now I know I gotta be there!" Arisa smiled, with admiration in her eyes. "You know how much I love a man in the kitchen!" She grabbed Joey. "Now come along, Joseph!"

"I just had to open my big mouth…" He muttered as Arisa lead him towards the direction that would lead them to his house.

"What have I done…" Kaiba muttered as he slouched in the back seat of his limo. "To deserve this…"

"Plenty!" Seto explained, sitting opposite of Kaiba. "You're a bully, inconsiderate, insensitive, need I go on!?"

"Are you supposedly trying to help me, or are you just here to annoy me." Kaiba hissed.

"I say 66% help, 34% annoy. I mean, working should be fun!"

"Working should not be fun! Working is should be nothing but that! Work! The one thing that can keep a person from the poor house!"

"Tell me something, Seto Kaiba. Do you love your job?"

Kaiba snorted. "Do I love my job? If I didn't like my job, would you think that I would've quitted by now?"

Seto sighed, "Do you love your job or not?"

Now it was Kaiba's turn to sigh. "As much as I enjoy creating new holographic systems, it does become difficult to deal with."

"How so?"

Kaiba let out a groan of frustration. "What do you think? Being cramped up in a office all day, surrounded by idiots who can't do anything right! Meanwhile, other people my are out having fun, acting like morons as if they don't have any care in the world! I may be the CEO of Kaiba Corp, but I'm still a kid! I'm 16 freaking years old! I have feelings! I need to be held!"

"I see…"

"Why am I telling you this anyway…?" Kaiba muttered.

"Because you have to tell someone, Seto…" His younger self of a conscience told them. "Otherwise, it's a balloon being filled up with air:" As if on cue, a red balloon appeared in Seto's hand from out of nowhere as it began to inflate by itself… "Too much could cause a disastrous result, such as this…" The balloon continued to inflate until it couldn't take in anymore air as it then popped. "See?"

Kaiba blinked in confusion. "What's so disastrous about a simple balloon popping?"

"Simple: That was my favorite balloon. And that was just a model to show you about how keeping your emotions inside without expressing them could cause negative results." Seto explained.

"But I do express my emotions."

Seto sighed, "Yes, but you do not need to take it out on other people."

Kaiba smirked, "Let me guess: Wheeler again?"

"And Yugi, and Tristan, and-"

"I get the picture." Kaiba cut Seto off. "Those geeks just annoy me that's all…"

"Everything annoys you…" Seto muttered. "Maybe this upcoming group session will give you hope…" Within a blink of an eye, Seto vanished.

Kaiba crossed his arms, annoyed. His Conscience was becoming more and more annoying. "Do I love my job?" Of course he loved his job! It's not his fault that people decided that it would be a good idea to annoy or even piss him off. Some Conscience. If anything he was becoming nearly as much of an annoyance as Wheeler. And knowing how Kaiba has felt about him lately, that's saying a lot. Kaiba knew that Joey couldn't keep up his "anger management" nonsense for long, and as soon as it failed, Kaiba would be the first one to shoot him down back to the level where he belongs: Beneath him.

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Whew. That's it for this chapter, kids. Next chapter, it's meet the parents as Joey will not only be cooking for his family, but for Arisa as well. The next day will be Kaiba's first day in the group. What will happen there? Y'all know the drill, review now!


	6. Dinner Time, Revelations, And Kaiba's Fi...

I wanted it to post this up the same time as I post the most recent chapter to my other story "A New Path" (Obvious plug, I know.) but I had to make a few adjustments. Now since we all want to get to the chapter already...let's get to the chapter already!

* * *

"Oh boy…" Joey muttered as he and Arisa walked up the steps of an apartment building. He just had to open his big mouth about him cooking. He'd always heard that women love a man who was good in the kitchen, but then again, he heard a lot of stuff about what kind of man a woman love. Arisa was the type of girl who would love a home cooked meal, despite her family matters, so Joey knew that he was trapped.

"So what are we having for dinner?" Arisa asked.

"Not sure. Depends on what we got." Joey said as they made it to a door which read "2C." He then took out his key as he then unlocked the door.

"Serenity, I'm home!" Joey shouted as he and Arisa walked in. His apartment wasn't too shabby, but not too fantastic. It had some pictures of artwork and some photos of family. One of them caught Arisa attention: It was a picture of a woman with curly auburn hair and a man with dirty blonde hair. In front of them where what appeared to be a younger Joey and Serenity. "They were so cute…" She cooed. She kept in mind that this picture was taken before the father discovered Scotch, Rum, and Jack Daniels.

Joey called for his little sister again, after there was no response. "Probably out with friends," He figured, remembering about her friends from Serenity's ballet practice. "Aw well…might as well get dinner started." He said as he then walked into the kitchen to take out the pots and pans, as well as the food he would need from the fridge.

After about two hours of seasoning, boiling, and frying, the meal of fried chicken with green beans and rice was ready. Even during that time period he still didn't see Serenity.

Joey sighed, "Aw well, guess it's just you and me then…"

Arisa took a sniff of the food, and much to her delight, it was delicious. "Mmm…smells good!"

"Thank you!" Joey replies with a smile as he looked at the chicken-filled bowl. "So which one do ya want: the thighs, the breast, the wing, or the leg?"

"I'll take the breast." Arisa said as she walked over to grab a paper plate, beginning to place a breast on the plate, followed by two spoonfuls of rice and green beans.

Suddenly, the door opened as Serenity walked in, carrying her pink "Hello Kitty" backpack. "Joey, I'm home!"

Arisa couldn't help but let out a giggle as she heard Serenity use the same greeting as her brother. 'Yep, she's Joey's sister alright.' She thought.

Serenity walked in as she then noticed another girl in the house, holding a plate filled with food in her hands. "Umm..."

Arisa noticed, "You're Serenity right?"

She nodded. "And you?"

"I'm Arisa, Joey's girlfriend."

Serenity blinked. "What!?" To say that Serenity was in shock would be an understatement.

"Like I said, Joey and I are dating." Arisa explained.

Serenity was speechless. Here she is, just getting home from Ballet class and look who's at the door: Some girl, a complete stranger, holding a plate filled with food that came out of their fridge. There was only one thing she could do in a situation like this…

"JOEEEEEEY!!!"

As if like a flash of lightning, Joey rushed in, carrying his own plate which had twice the amount of food Arisa had. "What's up Serenity?"

"Who is she?" She asked, both in panic and anger.

"She's my girlfriend, Serenity. She's havin' diner with us!" Joey explained to his little sister.

"Your girlfriend?"

"Yeah."

"As in 'I love ya so much I wanna kiss you and have your babies' girlfriend?"

"Yeah." Joey nodded. "Go ahead and grab a plate."

With a sigh, Serenity walked into the kitchen to grab a plate, leaving some for their Mom when she got home as Joey and Arisa sat down at the table. "So you got a girlfriend, without even telling me?"

"Since when do I need yer approval on who I date?" Joey asked, getting a bit annoyed all of a sudden.

"Joey, there's no need to get upset." Arisa said, as Serenity glanced at her.

Joey sighed, "Sorry Sis. I've been having a bit of a bad day on that subject."

Serenity blinked as she took her seat. "What happened?"

"Let's just say that you can't always count on yer friends to support you…" He said as he took a bite out of fork-skewered green beans. "At least Yuge, Tristan, and Bakura didn't really have a problem. Tea on the other hand…"

Serenity asked, "Well, how long have you guys been together?"

"Not that long." Arisa stated. "We were considering going out before, but today it was official."

"But still, shouldn't you have told your friends about it?" Serenity asked Joey as she mixed her rice together with the green beans. "They've been worried about you."

Joey sighed, "Good point…"

"Tea and the others, even though they didn't show it, were probably shocked…" Serenity sighed as she then says silently, "Or even disappointed…"

Apparently not silent enough as Joey raised an eyebrow. "Disappointed, Sis? Are you saying that you don't like that fact that Arisa and I are together."

"It's not that…" Serenity sighed. "It's…"

"Joey…" Arisa sighed as she grabbed her plate, feeling dejected. "I don't think this is working out…"

"Wha-What do you mean, Arisa?" Joey asked, with a bit of hurt in his voice.

"Maybe it was better and less stressful to everyone when we were just friends…" Arisa walked towards the door. It appeared to her that none of his friend or even family really liked her, let alone supported her and Joey being together. "See ya around at school…okay?"

Joey sighed, "Okay…" He watched the love of his life leave as Serenity got up from her chair to check up on him…

"Joey…I'm sorry. It's just-"

Joey cut her off. "It's just what? You drove Arisa away from me. And just after I told you that I was already getting annoyed with the way my friends were treating Arisa! It's bad enough I'm getting this crap from my so-called friend Tea, but my own sister saying that she's disappointed in me!?"

"Joey, will you just listen for one second!"

"No, I'm through listening!" Joey stated as he went to his room, but Serenity grabbed him by the arm!

"Wait a second, Joey! You're going to calm down and listen to what I have to say!"

"I _know_ what yer going to say: Arisa and I shouldn't be together."

"It's not that, Joey! I don't care that you're going with Arisa! Hell, I wouldn't care if you were going out with Ishizu! It's just…"

"It's just what?" Joey asked, impatiently.

"I just hoped that you'd go be with Mai instead of someone else!" Serenity stated. "You make quite a couple and you look cute together!"

"Mai? Is this what this is about? So you literally made Arisa feel unwelcome all because I didn't go out with Mai?" It took everything from inside to keep Joey from losing it. "Serenity, we already had this discussion about-"

"Should it matter how much of an age difference it is!?" She snapped, "You and Mai belong together, Joey!"

Joey narrowed his eyes. He was sick of everyone not supporting his and Arisa's love for each other. And Serenity's reasons for not supporting just about drove him over the edge. "Read my lips Serenity: I only like Mai Valentine as a friend, a best friend maybe but nothing more! Arisa Mallovic is who I love! Got it, Serenity?"

"Yes Joey…" Serenity sighed, looking down.

"I'm not hungry…" Joey said as he walked into his room. He was getting sick of people not accepting Arisa. It wasn't as if she was a bad person or anything, but they were treating her as if she burned down the church.

The next day, Kaiba walked out from the limo as he then made his way inside the school. For the sake of his sanity, he was not going to even look at Joey Wheeler today. As far as he was concerned, the dog didn't exist, so he wasn't going to waste his time insulting him like he always did, especially since they backfired and resulted in him becoming humiliated instead.

Kaiba then saw Yugi, Tristan, and Tea outside their lockers, but no Joey. But then again, he was always late anyway. Just because he wasn't going to insult Wheeler, didn't mean that he couldn't insult someone else he hated just as much…

"Yugi, I suggest that you make sure the monkey has had his banana before he gets cranky." He said in his usual cold tone. "I mean, you wouldn't want Taylor to go ape in class, would you?"

"Kaiba…" Tristan glared.

"What's the matter? Does the monkey boy want his banana?" Kaiba taunted as Tristan went to leap at him, but Yugi and Tea held him back. With a sigh, Kaiba walked off, "It's just not the same…" He muttered in a somewhat whiny tone.

"What's with Kaiba?" Tea asked, "Doesn't he usually go after Joey?"

Yugi sighed, "Yes, but for one thing he's not here. And two, you've seen what's happened the last few times he tried to make him angry. It all went down south for him, so I guess he's going for a new target?"

"It still seems very pointless for him to do so after what's happened…" Tea said, "Even if he did get Tristan angry." She then saw Joey walk in. "Hey Joey, what's-"

Joey just walked by, not bothering to even acknowledge her presence. He was still angry about what happened yesterday and was hoping Arisa would be here.

Tea's eyes narrowed. No way was he going to ignore her. She ran off after him, "Joey it's me, Tea! You know? Your friend?"

"Friend? Hmph…" Joey muttered as he stopped at his locker.

"Oh come on Joey, you can't possibly be angry about what happened yesterday. I didn't know-"

"Yugi, please tell Tea to keep her distance." Joey said towards Yugi's direction. He was so angry that he didn't even want to talk to her, probably not even want to breathe the same air as her.

As Joey opened the locker, Tea slammed it shut. "Now you listen to me Joey: I tried to apologize to you, but it's your fault as much as mine. If you would've told us about what's been happening to you instead of keeping it like one big secret, none of this would've happened."

"Would it really, Tea?" Joey snapped in response. "First I had to take your crap, then from Serenity. And now Arisa doesn't want us to date because of what's happening." He noticed Tea's shocked response. "That's right. I invited Arisa over for dinner last night. And Serenity treated her the same way, and for what? Because I'm not dating Mai, but someone who's around my age and wouldn't have to worry about legal trouble for an underage relationship? Well at least Serenity told me why she had a problem with our relationship, unlike some people I _thought_ I knew..."

"Joey, will you shut up for just a second!? Just for one fucking second!?" Tea shouted.

"I'm listening…" Joey said, with his arms crossed.

"Do you really want to know why I don't like Arisa? Why I don't like the fact that you two are together?" Tea started.

"Duh, Tea…"

"Well…it's…it's…" She was looking for the right words. "Look, I just don't like her! She's too good for you!" Tea was in shock of what she said. That wasn't what she wanted to say, but she couldn't think of anything else. She might as well go with it.

"Too good for me?" Joey was near his breaking point.

"That's right! She's too much of a sweet girl to be with an insensitive jerk like you!" Tea snapped, which Yugi and Tristan sighed, seeing that Tea has just made it worse.

"Insensitive jerk? You're the one who practically made Arisa feel like an outcast, and you call me an insensitive jerk?"

"That's right! I don't want you to abandon her the same way you've been abandoning us lately. You didn't even bother to call or let us know about your problems. Friends-"

"Don't even give me that Friendship bullshit. You have no grounds to criticize me about how I treat my friends!" Joey snapped. To hell with keeping his cool, Tea was asking for it. "What'd you want me to do, apologize on my knees?" He dropped down to his knees. "I'm sorry for worrying you, Tea!" He jumped back up. "There, ya happy? You always got on my case, and I'm sick of it! Okay, so I wasn't always a nice guy! What the hell do I have to do to atone for what I've done in the past? Cut off both my arms? Gouge my eyes out? You know what? I don't need to take this shit! I'm outta here!" With a turn on his heel Joey walked…more like stormed towards the door.

Tea was beginning to feel remorse for those hurtful things she said. She just couldn't handle the way Joey was acting, especially towards her. "Joey, wait-"

"Fuck everything…and fuck you, Tea!" He said as he walked out the door.

Everyone was in shock, especially Yugi and Tristan. It was true that Tea had got onto Joey's case for some things in the past, but they had no idea how much of an offense it was to Joey. Tea meanwhile already had a look of remorse as her eyes became teary.

"I'll go check on Joey." Tristan said as he went after his longtime friend.

Yugi gave a nod as he then walked over to his childhood friend. "Tea…Are you okay?" He asked.

"No…" She said, on the verge of crying. "How could Joey say that…after all we've been through?"

"Joey's just upset…" Yugi assured. "He'll come around…"

"No he won't…" She disagreed. "Joey really likes Arisa, and I said that he didn't deserve her. He finally found someone he really likes, and instead of supporting him like a real friend, I treated her like dirt and I wasn't that very friendly with Joey either. He must really hate me now…"

"He doesn't hate you…"

"Yugi, when someone says 'Fuck you' to you, I don't think that it means they like you."

Yugi sighed. "Maybe you guys need to sit down and talk."

Now it was Tea's turn to sigh, "Yugi…can you keep a secret?"

Yugi nodded. "Of course Tea."

"You want to know the real reason why I don't like Arisa? Well what I said about her being with Joey was only partially."

"What do you mean?"

Tea took a deep breath, "Well...it's because I'm…I'm in love with Joey. There, I said it. I'm in love with Joey Wheeler!"

Yugi blinked. "You're in love with Joey?"

"Yes…" Tea simply said.

"Why didn't you just tell him in the first place?" Yugi asked, still in shock at this revelation.

"I don't know…I was scared, okay? I was scared that Joey would just laugh in my face or worse…"

"Oh come on Tea, Joey isn't like that!"

"Oh get a grip, Yugi! At one point Joey was head over heels over Mai! How could I ever measure up to her? And now with Arisa, well she's not as gorgeous as Mai, but she's like an angel, not a conceited stuck-up like Mai."

"Well…I think you such just tell him anyway." Yugi suggested. "It wouldn't be fair to you or him if you kept it to yourself."

" I know…" Tea sighed, "Okay, I'll tell him. But only when I'm ready…"

"Okay Tea, take your time. But don't take too long…"

"Don't worry Yugi, I won't."

Meanwhile, just outside of school, Joey was about to cross the street. He didn't care if he'd get another detention or suspended again, there was no way in hell he was going back inside, let alone with _her_ there.

"Hey Joey, wait a second!"

Joey looked back as he saw Tristan running towards him.

"You out of your mind or something?" He asked.

"Look Tristan, I'm not in the mood to go to class today!" Joey replied as he waited for the crosswalk signal to change to green.

"So you're going to leave after you basically made Tea cry?"

"Oh c'mon Tristan, don't tell me you agree with her!" Joey complained.

"I don't agree with her, but she has her reasons." Tristan said.

"Oh yeah? Name one!" Joey challenged. "Give me one reason that justifies the way she's been acting towards me and Arisa."

Tristan sighed. He had hoped it wouldn't have to come down to this. He was very angry with the way Tea treated Arisa yesterday, but from an email, Tea told Tristan how she felt about Joey, while threatening him if he told anyone-especially Joey- she would…let's just say that he wouldn't be able to bare children when she was through with him. "Joey, promise me if you won't tell!"

The light changed green as Joey made his way across. "Tristan, are you coming?" He called out.

"I don't know, Joe…" He replied.

"Oh come on, pal!" Joey insisted.

Tristan sighed as he began to walk over. "Okay…" Once he was across, he looked at his friend. "So where we're going, anyway?"

"Anywhere but there." Joey said, referring to the school. "So what's this thing that you want me to promise not to tell?"

"Okay Joey…but if you tell anyone…"

"Yeah yeah, I got the big picture." Joey said at the two walked. "Now spill!"

Tristan sighed, "Okay, you want to know why Tea's been acting this way?"

"I'm listening…"

"Joey…Tea likes you!" Tristan said.

"Well, she has a _fine_ way of showing it." Joey replied sarcastically.

"I'm serious Joey, she really likes you!"

"…" Joey stopped for a second, as he then burst out laughing. "Good one Tristan."

"Damn it Joey, that's exactly why she didn't tell you!" Tristan snapped. "She's afraid that you were going to laugh at her!"

Joey stopped, it was all becoming clear. Her attitude when she first saw him with Arisa. They way she was acting when he ignored her. "You're serious? Tea really likes me?"

"Yeah."

"As in like me like me?"

"Yeah."

"As in 'I want to have your babies and spend the rest of my life with you' like me?"

"Yeah, but not so sure on the 'babies' part…"

Joey sighed, "Well that explains a lot."

"You know what you have to do, right?" Tristan asked.

"Yeah…" Joey sighed as they walked into the park. He then stopped as his eyes went wide.

"What's up Joey?" Tristan asked as he then saw her: Wearing a white tanktop, blue jean shorts, and white sandals, sat Arisa with a depressed look on his face.

"Arisa!" Joey rushed towards her, followed by Tristan.

Arisa looked to her right as she then saw them both. Her eyes went about as wide as Joey's. "Joey? Tristan? What are you guys doing here?"

"I was about to ask ya the same thing." Joey replied. "What's up?"

"It's nothing…" Arisa said.

"Arisa, is there something that's bothering you?" Tristan asked.

"Why do you care?" She snapped. "Look, the reason why I decided not to go out with Joey was because of what it was doing to you guys?"

"What?" Tristan blinked. "Hey, I'm cool with it, whatever you and Joey have together!"

"Bullshit!" Arisa snapped. "That bitch Tea basically doesn't like me. Even his sister didn't think much of me!"

"Well how would you feel if you liked someone and found out that they were going out with someone else?" Tristan asked.

Arisa was shocked. "Y-you mean…"

"Yeah…" Tristan explained, "Tea has a crush on Joey."

"This is…wow…this is just wow!" Arisa said, not knowing what to think.

"Yer not alone on this one, Arisa. Tristan just told me the same thing." Joey informed.

"Okay…but what about your sister?" Arisa reminded.

"Let's just say that her reasons are similar to Tea's." Joey said. "No, it's not an incest relationship. It's that she wanted me to go out with someone else…"

"Who?" Arisa asked.

"Mai Valentine, you've heard of her, right?"

"Oh her, the only female duelist in Battle City and Duelist Kingdom! You mean that your sister wanted you and her to get together?"

"Yeah. She thinks that we make a cute couple. But I know one that is much cuter." Joey grinned.

"Oh really…what couple are you talking about?" Arisa asked with a grin.

"Come here an' I'll show ya!"

Arisa smiled as she jumped into Joey's arms, both of them now going into a kiss.

"Oh get a room, you guys!" Tristan complained.

"What's the matter, baby? Don't have someone?" Arisa teased Tristan.

"No, it's not that. I already have someone in mind." Tristan smiled, which earned him a glare from Joey.

"How many times do I need to tell ya to stay away from my-"

"Oh let him be, shut up, and kiss me." Arisa turned his head towards her and kept him from talking with her own lips on his.

Tristan grinned. 'She's not so bad after all. Now Joey won't be so damn overprotective…' He thought, then remembered about Tea. "Are you sure you guys should be acting this way?"

Arisa sighed as she broke away from Joey. "Yeah, I forgot...you have to let her know!"

"I know..." Joey sighed. "And I have to apologize..."

Arisa blinked, "Apologize?"

"Let's just say that I might had said a couple of things I'm not exactly proud of." Joey informed Arisa.

"Oh...bummer..."

After School, Kaiba was in the limo. Fortunately, he didn't see Joey today so he didn't have as much stress as he usually had. But then again, today was his first session at the new group he was unfortunately going. Him, Seto Kaiba, sitting in a circle with a group of idiots, low lives, and other scum of society! It was basically an insult for a man of his standards to be there.

"Ahh…your first day at anger management..." Seto said, sitting next to him with a smile on his face. "I'm so excited!"

"Then why don't you go to the meeting instead!" Kaiba hissed.

"Remember? Only you can see me? Not visible to anyone else." Seto said as the limo arrived to a YMCA building.

"Whatever…let's just get this over with…" Kaiba said as the door opened. He then stepped out and told the limo driver to come back around five.

"Well…have fun!" Seto waved goodbye to Kaiba.

"You're not coming with me?" Kaiba glared.

"Not this time. Then we'd talk and people would look at you as if you're some kind of freak." Seto explained.

"Please…I figured they'd be used to that, seeing that they're in the group in the first place."

"Sorry Seto, you're on your own!" His conscience smiled as then, in a blink of an eye, he disappeared.

"Whatever…" Kaiba walked into the door up to the front desk as a young lady with flowing long red hair smiled.

"Mr. Kaiba…" She asked. "Anger management, right?"

"Yes…" He replied in a cold monotone voice.

"The group's been expecting you." She pointed to a oak door on her left. "This way, please."

"Right…" Kaiba said as he went to the said door. As soon as he opened it…

"Kaiba!?"

Kaiba looked to the source of the two voices as then saw the last two people he needed to see: Joey and Arisa. "Oh hell no!"

* * *

-------------------------------------- 

Well…this is becoming interesting. Who would've thought that Tea was in love with Joey? More importantly, who would've thought that Kaiba would be in the same class as Joey and Arisa? What will go down from there? Find out in the next installment.


	7. The First Day! Joey Admits Being A Mutt?

Here it is: the next chapter. But first, a quick shout-out to all who reviewed:

asa-chan

Anubia

markyc58

pudding

Zephra85

Sanura-sama

sakura-dono

mandapandabug

Lady-Wicca666

Whyshoulditellyou

LadySaturnGirl

Seto'sGal

Magicman/Smokegirl

Ocelot The Revolver

uoyrslover

Now on with the story!

* * *

"Kaiba!?"

Kaiba looked to the source of the two voices as then saw the last two people he needed to see: Joey and Arisa. "Oh hell no!"

An auburn-haired woman wearing a white blouse, black slacks, and black heels looked on. "Well…I don't need to have a PhD to know that all three of you know each other.

"Unfortunately…" Kaiba muttered.

"Anyway everyone, I like to introduce you to the newest member of our little group."

"Hmph…I don't need an introduction."

"Meet Seto Kaiba!"

Kaiba narrowed his eyes. "Listen Miss…"

"Miss Corsiack." She said. "But you can call me Delia."

"Miss Corsiack. I would appreciate it that a plebian like you would only refer to me as 'Kaiba.'"

"Well…okay Seto-"

"KAIBA, DAMN IT!" He roared.

"Very mature, Kaiba…" Joey muttered.

"SHUT IT, WHEELER!" Kaiba hissed at him.

"Very…" Arisa added.

"YOU SHUT IT TOO, MALLOVIC!"

"Joey your right, he does have issues." A red-haired young man, wearing an AC-DC T-shirt and jeans said.

"Seriously… is he, like, constipated or something?" A girl with her pink hair in pigtails said as she straightened out her yellow skirt in her chair.

Kaiba glared at the girl. "Listen Valley Girl, I don't exactly want to be here, let alone where people like the mutt and his bitch are. But obviously the stupid principal thinks I have some anger issues that need to be worked out, and I do not want to have any problems from any of you, got it?!"

"What-ever…" She blew him off.

Delia sighed, knowing well about Kaiba's nickname for Joey. These next sessions weren't going to be easy, especially knowing how Kaiba and Joey felt about each other. "Well…let's get started anyway…" She looked towards Kaiba. "Set-er…Kaiba…" She corrected, after noticing Kaiba's glare, "Tell us, why are you so angry, why do you have so much stress."

"Don't bother Delia," Joey advised. "He's like Fort Knox: You won't get nuthin' from him."

"And you're like an empty house!" Kaiba retorted. "The lights are on, but nobody's home!"

"Come now Joey, don't provoke him!" Delia scolded.

"I'm not! He's doing well at that department by himself. I mean everyone who's tried to get close to you has been shut down by you!" Joey explained.

"Like you know anything about my personal life Wheeler!" Kaiba retorted.

"Maybe, but I know that there's a few people who actually care about you! I don't know why, seeing that you're a total jerk. Like Yugi Kaiba? Y'know, the short guy who beat'cha at Duel Monstas? The guy who tries to show kindness to ya, god knows why, and you shun him?"

"Save it for someone who cares!"

"Kaiba needs help, big time Jess." Arisa said to, who Kaiba has dubbed, "The Valley Girl."

"Yah! He's, like, so stressed." She replied.

"Face it, Kaiba!" Joey said, "Yer afraid to open up! That's why you have this 'don't fuck with me' attitude! Yer using it as a shell"

"You can keep making up whatever fairytale your small mind could come up with, but you know nothing! You hear me? Nothing…Nothing Boy!"

"Wanna bet?"

"I don't bet with dogs!"

"How original Kaiba. Can't you come up with something different for once?"

"Fine…_Mutt_!"

"Like that's different…"

"Mongrel…"

"…"

"FIDO!"

"…"

"FIFI!?"

"…Now you're getting real desperate Kaiba…"

"Well…Oh my…" Delia watched on as Joey and Kaiba continued to argue. But she couldn't help but be amazed how calm Joey is being through the entire situation. I guess those sessions in the last two weeks were paying off. "Well…Joey. There is this rumor going around school that you and Arisa ditched school today…"

Joey sighed, "Yeah…"

So did Arisa. "I forgot about that…"

Kaiba grinned, seeing that Joey was now getting into trouble.

"You two care to explain why you ditched school?" Delia asked.

Joey asked Arisa. "You first or should I?"

"How about you instead?" Arisa suggested with a smile.

"You never did tell me why you didn't go-Oh god not the eyes!" Joey moaned as Arisa gave him the dreaded Chibi Eyes!

"Pweease…?" She asked, adding a smile to the eyes.

"Alright, I'll explain."

"Go ahead Joseph, we're waiting!" Delia awaited.

"Well…let's just say that after what happened, I didn't felt like going to class." Joey explained.

"Okay. So what made you not feel like going to class?"

"It's how a friend on mine keeps nagging on me like she's my mother. Then what she said about me and Arisa and how I didn't deserve her, and she called me an insensitive jerk. She was the one who made Arisa feel bad and made her cry, and she's calling _me_ an insensitive jerk? That's when I really went off at her."

Kaiba was in shock. "YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT YOU GOT PISSED OFF, AND I WASN'T THERE, LET ALONE THE CAUSE OF IT!?" He shouted.

Jess scoffed. "Is he, like, totally obsessed with you or something?" She asked Joey.

"That would explain a lot." Joey continued, "Anyways, after that, I thought 'to hell with it' and just left with my friend Tristan. I know that I'll have detention tomorrow but, oh well…I've been there before."

"Which reminds me…" Delia took out a piece of paper from her pocket. "Your principal called. She said for you and Arisa to decide when you both want to have your detentions. In the morning, during lunch, or after school?"

Joey and Arisa looked at each other as they then said their decision. However, Joey said Morning as Arisa said Lunch.

"Oh c'mon Arisa, ya know how I feel about lunch time!" Joey protested.

"I know, but I'm not a morning person!" Arisa said, explaining her reasons.

"A'right then, we'll flip on it." Joey said as he took out a penny.

"Must you always decide things by chance?" Kaiba muttered.

Joey ignored Kaiba, "Okay Risa, call it in the air!" He said as he flipped the coin.

"Heads, let it hit the floor!" she requested.

Joey shrugged as the coin hit the grey carpeting. He then looked on the floor. "It's Tails. Tomorrow Mornin' I'll be at yer door!"

"Aww…" Arisa whined.

"What's the matter? Is the little bitch sad?" Kaiba smirked.

"Now Seto-"

"KAIBA!" Kaiba interrupted Delia.

"Sorry…Kaiba, was that nice?!"

"Yeah!" Arisa glared.

"What? You're a girl. You're Wheeler's girlfriend. And since he's a dog, which makes you a female dog which is the meaning of 'Bitch.'"

"Why do you call Joey those names?" Delia asked.

Kaiba sighed, "Just look at Wheeler, and with a straight face tell me that he's not a mutt!"

Everyone looked towards Joey, who was smiling innocently. It's true that his blonde hair was untamed, but it still looked well kept. His clothes were ordinary: Just a blue jean jacket over a white T-shirt, black jeans, and black and white sneakers. They then turned back towards Kaiba. "Joey Wheeler is not a mutt." They all said.

"The hell he's not!" Kaiba said, his opinion not changed.

"Well actually, to a degree Kaiba's right."

"What!?" Everyone, including Kaiba exclaimed.

"Well…finally, you admit that you're a low-class dog that's a disgrace to society." Kaiba said, trying to show face.

"I'm not, genius! If you let me finish I'd tell ya." Joey said. "Well, I am part Japanese, part American, and part Italian so I guess, in a way, I am one. But not the one Kaiba's talking about." He chuckled. "I don't even know why I let it get to me in the first place."

"Fine, but you're still a dog!" Kaiba said, crossing his arms.

"Oh give it up, Kaiba…" Arisa sighed, feeling sorry for the CEO. "You're just making a bigger idiot of yourself."

Kaiba stood up. "I don't have to take this. Dealing with Wheeler's bad enough. But dealing with the rest of you idiots it too much for my sanity!"

"Kaiba!" Delia called out.

"Good day Corsiack." He said as he walked towards the door.

"But-"

"I SAID GOOD DAY!" Kaiba walked out as he slammed the door shut.

"Well…that was…"

"Don't worry about it Delia." Joey assured. "He'll be back."

Arisa blinked, "How do you know, Joey?"

"Well…" Joey held up Kaiba's wallet. "Let's just say Joey Wheella's hit the jackpot! Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-_ching_!"

"Joey…" Delia scolded.

"Hey, it dropped out of his trench coat! I swear Kaiba probably sleeps in them know him."

The door opened as Kaiba walked in with a glare towards Joey. "Give it to me!"

"Give what, Kaiba?"

"Don't play games with me Wheeler give me back my wallet!" Kaiba ordered.

"You didn't say please…"

"GIVE ME MY FUCKING WALLET BACK YOU THEIF!"

"Hey, s'not my fault it fell out of yer trench coat!" Joey crossed his arms. "Now sit yer ass down, Kaiba."

With a grumble, Kaiba sat back down. "Whatever…"

"Okay, here's yer reward." Joey gave him back the wallet which Kaiba snatched. "A thank you would be nice…"

"Thank you!? You stole it from me you stupid-"

"So anyways Arisa, why did you ditch school?" Delia asked, trying to change the subject.

"Well…" Arisa looked down to her sandaled feet. "It's a long story…"

"Come on, Arisa!" Joey encouraged.

"What's the matter Mallovic? Are you afraid to tell?" Kaiba taunted.

Joey glared. "Kaiba you have no right to criticize anyone about being afraid to tell."

Kaiba returned the glare. "Are you saying that I'm a coward to open up, Wheeler?"

"I'm not saying, I'm telling you that you are nothing but a coward who's afraid open up!"

"I don't have to tell you anything!" He snapped.

"Denial's not just a river in Egypt." Joey said as he then pointed to the red-haired boy. "Take Jackson for example. When he first came here, he didn't want to talk to anyone. He always had this sour-puss look on his face. Now he's not afraid to open up ever since comin' here." Joey sighed as he looked toward his girlfriend. "Go ahead Arisa. The floor's yours."

Arisa smiled then sighed. "Anyway…it's my mom."

Delia nodded. "Go on…"

"She's…well…she's been seeing someone."

"Oh…I see…it's normal for a child to be uncomfortable to see their parents dating again, as they wished that they could get together again. Or in your case, you were used to it just being your mom and you."

Arisa shook her head. "Kinda…but not really. You see...he isn't exactly too fond of kids so usually he ignores me...when he's not yelling at me." 

Jackson blinked. "He yells at you, Arisa?"

"Yeah…"

"Why don't you just tell your mom or something?" Jess asked.

"I dunno…My Mom she's…she's so happy! And I don't want her to be hurt again. You all know what my father used to be like before he…" A tear began to form in her eye.

"We get the picture." Joey said, going to comfort Arisa. He knew what it was like to have a father who could care less about him.

"I don't…" Kaiba said. "And I don't care."

"We're going to have to work on your sensitivity Mr. Kaiba." Delia notes.

"Don't bother." Joey advised. "Kaiba doesn't even know the meaning of the word 'Sensitivity.'"

"And you don't know the meaning of any words with over five letters Wheeler, so you can't talk." Kaiba replied.

"…I'm not even gonna dignify it with a response."

"Like you could…"

"Just open up Kaiba! Or do ya got somethin' to hide?"

"Like I said, I don't have to tell ya anything!"

"Kaiba …"

"Well…let's call it a day!" Delia suggested, wanting to stop the boys from fighting.

"Gladly…" Kaiba got up as he proceeded to leave.

"See ya Monday, Kaiba!" Jackson waved.

"I seriously doubt it…" Kaiba muttered as he left through the door. He then saw the same girl he saw before when he came in, at the front desk.

"Having fun?" She asked.

"I don't have fun…" He muttered.

"Come on, everyone has fun at some point!" She protested.

"Well…not me. Those days are over…" He said as he now proceeded to the door which will lead him to outside and to his limo.

"It'll get better." She said, before he walked out the door.

Kaiba turned his head with an annoyed look on his face. "If you were in my situation, you wouldn't think so…" He muttered as he made his way to his limo.

"Let's go." He ordered as he stepped inside. The limo driver then proceeded to drive off with only one destination: The Kaiba Mansion.

"Well that was fun!"

Kaiba looked towards the source of the voice. "Seto!"

"We all learned a lot of interesting things…" Seto grinned. "And you were right Kaiba! Joey is a mutt! He does have a few different cultural backgrounds."

"The last thing I need right now is your Mockery…" Kaiba stated, arms crossed and all.

Seto sighed, "She's right, you know. Everyone has fun at some point."

"Having fun is just a waste of time and money!" Kaiba declared.

"You didn't use to think that." Seto reminded.

"Back then I was weak and naïve. Not anymore…"

"Like Joey said, denial's not just a river in Egypt."

"The last thing I need to hear from you is Wheeler's words."

"You'll learn…" Seto vowed in a whisper. "One way or another…"

--------------------------------------

* * *

Kaiba's first day at the group was interesting indeed, but luckily for him, the group doesn't meet until Monday. But then again, tomorrow Domino High's going to have a costume party and Kaiba'll be forced to go! Why? Take a guess! Here's a few descriptions of my main OCs in the story so far for those who need it:

Arisa Mallovic:

Long blonde hair, green eyes. 5'4." Basically looks like Dark Magician Girl, only shorter. Age 15.

Delia Corsiack:

Auburn Hair kept in a ponytail, hazel eyes. 5'8." Petite look. Age 26.

Kara Wilson (Will appear next chapter):

Long Blue hair, green eyes. 5'8." Basically looks like Kisara, and wears a golden cross necklace. Age 16(?).


	8. The School Dance! A Duel Monsters Costum...

Crap! There was an error I made last chapter when I was describing my OCs. Kara eyes are blue, not green! Now that we gotten my screw-up all cleared up, on with the story.

* * *

Serenity was just fastening the straps to her skirt as she then heard the doorbell. "Coming…" She rushed towards the door as she then opened the door, and after who she saw, she sighed.

"Hey Serenity…" Arisa said, dressed in her high school uniform as she gave a slightly nervous smile. "Is Joey here?"

Serenity sighed, "He's asleep. You'll get used to him always sleeping in."

"I'll wake him up." Arisa walked in as she then walked up to a closed door. "This is Joey's room, right?"

"Yeah…" Serenity nodded, but before Arisa could open the door… "Hey Arisa…"

"Hmm?" Arisa looked back.

"I just wanted to apologize for yesterday…" Serenity explained. "It's wasn't that I didn't like you or anything, it was just…"

"You were rooting on Joey going out with Mai?" Arisa finished for her.

"Yeah…how did-"

"Joey told me yesterday…" Arisa informed, then. "Well apology accepted. Now if you excuse me, I have a guy to wake up."

Serenity giggled, "Have fun!"

Arisa opened the door as she saw the guy she was looking for. Joey was fast asleep in the bed as his room was somewhat in order. Aside from a few articles of clothing, and sport equipment scattered across the room, of course…

"Okay Joey, time to get up!" She says in a sleep voice, but all she got in return was some moans. "Come on Joey, seriously!"

"Mmm…Gigantic Donuts…" He muttered in his sleep.

"Okay, that's it." Arisa sighed. "You wanted to get to school early to deal with detention, and you're oversleeping? Not on my watch…" She then smiled. "Joey we have gigantic donuts in the kitchen, and unless you get dressed we're throwing them out!"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?" As if on cue, Joey instantly awoken as he then, almost like anime-fast speed, ran into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face then quickly placed on his school uniform. Joey then ran out to the kitchen, almost knocking Serenity down in the process. "A'right, now where are those donuts!"

Serenity giggled as she slid on her socks, realizing that Arisa must've tricked him to getting out of bed. She thought that it was best to just play along. "Too late Joey, they're all gone! Sorry!"

Joey groaned, but Arisa walked out smirking. "Maybe that'll teach you to wake up earlier." She checked her watch. "Speaking of which, shouldn't we be there already, since we have morning detention?"

Joey blinked. "Oh man…I almost forgot!" He quickly yanked Arisa and his bag as they then rushed out the door.

Serenity blinked in confusion. "Okay…what just happened?"

On the way to school, Joey and Arisa were talking, more accurately discussing about the latest upcoming even in Domino High: The School Dance.

"You're coming to the dance, right?" Arisa asked.

"Of course!" Joey grinned. "I don't have to wear a suit, do I?"

Arisa giggled. "No, of course not! But the theme is going to be duel monsters so we all got to dress up like one! And if you say 'Dark Magician Girl' so help me I will make sure that you never have children."

"Okay okay…I won't…" Joey smiled. "How about you dress up as Magician's Valkyria!"

"Joey…" Arisa glared.

"I didn't say Dark Magician Girl!" Joey held his hands up in protest.

"You might as well!"

"I'm sorry…let's change to a different subject!" Joey suggested.

"Let's…" Arisa said. "Anyways, like I said, I'm going to wear my sneakers until we go to the mall to get new shoes and as you can see..." She models off her black converse sneakers.

"They look alright with the outfit." Joey complemented while taking glance at his black and white Nikes. "But what do you mean by 'we?'"

"You'll go to the mall with me right? Don't you have to go by your costume for the dance?" She reminded. Arisa has learned a lot of things about her new boyfriend, and being the last one to know about most things was one of them.

"Yeah…"

Suddenly, Tristan ran up to them.

"Hey Arisa!" Tristan greeted as he then glared at Joey. "I'm not even going to talk to you! My parents took my bike away from me because of yesterday!"

"Hey, if I told ya to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you do it?" Joey replied.

"Guys, let's calm down so we can make it to our morning detention so we don't have to go after school!" Arisa suggested.

"Yeah…the good thing is that we won't have Kaiba to deal with…" Tristan said in relief.

"You could say that again…" Joey added.

On the school grounds, Yugi and Tea were at the lockers.

"So Yugi, who are you going as at the dance tonight?" Tea asked, "You know it'll be Duel Monsters-themed, right?"

"The Dark Magician, hands down!" Yugi said with pride. "Why? Are you going as the Magician of Faith?"

"Not this time." Tea shook her head as she then smiled. "I'm going as Dark Magician Girl! Hey, we can go together!"

"Sure Tea, whatever you say!" Yugi looked around. "Shouldn't Joey and Tristan be here by now?"

The former's name struck a cord in Tea. "Yeah…where are they?" She asked in a slight depressed tone.

"Knowing them, they're at that donut shop near school." Yugi said as he then noticed his childhood friend's sad expression. "Hey, don't worry about it! Like I said, I'm sure-"

"How do you know for sure?" Tea asked, not believing him. "I mean, we've never seen Joey this upset. Not since…"

"That incident in class?" Yugi finished for her.

"Yeah…"

"Hey, Joey will get over it." He said, "He's not the one to hold-" Yugi then realized what he was going to say as he remembered Joey and Kaiba's "relationship" with each other. "Never mind…"

Tea sighed. Ever since the incident from yesterday, she has felt miserable. She didn't really meant those mean things she said to Joey, but in a way he did forced her hand or rather mouth by the way he's been neglecting his friend, esepcially her. Back at Battle City when Joey was telling Tea about his admirable, but failed, attempt to rescue Mai's mind from the Shadow Realm, she felt special. She was the only one he told that too, not Yugi, or Tristan, or Duke Devlin, or even Serenity. Tea thought that next to Mai, Joey had feelings for her, not just as a friend but much more but was just afraid to tell her and he thought that she and Yugi liked each other without the other knowing. But at the arcade when she saw him come in with Arisa, she felt hurt. After Joey had came to realized that he and Mai would never be she felt a bit of hope. That maybe Joey and Tea would have a chance together. But that was just not happening, and after yesterday, any hope of that happening if Joey and Arisa should break up just went out the window.

The day went by fast, but however, Tea and Joey never had a chance to talk because Joey, Arisa, and Tristan's detention was pushed to Lunchtime since they were five minutes too late. Yugi and Joey had some classes together today but only Yugi, and Tristan, had the same classes with Tea.

As the school bell rang and everyone was leaving, Kaiba was headed towards his limo. Since he didn't have to go to the group today or have detention, he could finally get some work done at Kaiba Corp. Suddenly, he bumped into someone as he fell to the ground as papers went flying everywhere.

"Oh I'm sorry…" The girl said as she began to gather her papers.

Kaiba grabbed his briefcase. "What where you going next time." He hissed at the girl, who, in closer inspection, looked very familiar. "You!"

It was the same girl who was at the front desk. "Well…small world isn't it?" She smiled.

"You go to school here?" Kaiba asked.

"Yeah! Doesn't everyone who lives here?" She giggled.

"How did I not know…?" He muttered. He had made a point to at least know about the people who went to his school, especially Yugi, Joey, and the rest of the "geeks." Maybe she was overlooked as he mostly focused on the people he usually had to deal with.

"So…." She asked him. "Are you going to the dance?"

"No…I don't waste time on activities that are complete was of time." He said as he began to walk off.

"Odd…since you supplied the funds for the dance."

Kaiba stopped. "What!?"

"I just happen to be on the dance committee and I must say that it's looking pretty damn good." She smiled.

"I don't remember…" Kaiba eyes then narrowed, "Mokuba…"

"Mokuba?" She replied.

"My little brother." He explained. "He probably just did this just so I could go out…I must remember to ground him…"

"From the way I've seen you act, I supposed a little mingling would do you some good!" She grinned. "How about I set you up with-"

Kaiba interrupted, "Wait a minute, you're now setting me up with someone, and I don't even know your name?" Kaiba reminded.

"Oh, sorry. It's Debra! Debra Wilson!" She introduced extending her hand, but Kaiba turned away.

"Whatever…" He scoffed.

"But if you decide to go to the dance, you could meet my sister! She's around your age." She offered.

Kaiba didn't look back. "Sorry…I don't date...much less go one blind dates."

"Why not?"

"Because…"

"Because what?"

"Because…" Kaiba pondered, looking for the perfect reason. "Because dating's a complete waste of time! And don't say anything about marriage because we all know how it ends: For about a year it's all smiles, then comes the doubts, the mistrust, the fights, followed by the divorce and, if you're not lucky, child custody and alimony battles! You should know, seeing that you work at the place and possibly see people who have those problems!"

Debra sighed, "Fine, do whatever you want. But you do go, Kara will be dressed as Shadow Tamer." She informed.

Kaiba turned back towards her. "So Kara is her name…" He said.

Debra nodded, "She's a sweet girl and I think that she'll be good for you."

"We'll see…" Kaiba said as he walked out of the building, and towards his limo. As soon as he stepped in…

"Ohhh…looks like Captain Cold's got himself a date!" a familiar voice said.

Kaiba glared, instantly knowing who it was since the voice used to be his. "You..."

"Kaiba and Kara sitting in the tree!" Seto sang.

"Nothing's going to happen at the dance, which I'm not going to!" Kaiba declared.

"I don't think you have a choice. Remember?" Seto reminded.

"Right…Mokuba…" Kaiba's eyes narrowed. "That kid is so grounded…"

"Anyways, since you're going to the dance, you'll need a costume. So what'll it be? Lord of Dragons?"

"No…"

"Super Roboyaru?"

"No!"

"Mr. Volcano?"

"Not going to happen."

"Flame Swordsman?"

Kaiba glared at his younger self who just smiled innocently. "Are you trying to piss me off?"

"It's just a suggestion."

"Okay, how about Vampire Lord?" Seto suggested.

"Fine…" Kaiba muttered as the limo headed back to the mansion.

At the mall, or more importantly a costume shop, Arisa was standing outside a dressing room as she grew impatient.

"Come on Joey! A snail could've gotten here from school by the time you finished getting ready!" She complained.

"Keep yer shirt on!" Joey shouted out. "This costume's not easy to get into, ya know! Besides it was yer idea!"

"Oh how hard could it be to come out from it!" Arisa then grinned. "Maybe you're shy…come on what do you got to hide…"

"What!? Joey Wheella's got nuthin' to hide!" He snapped, going into his Brooklyn accent.

"Then show me your stuff, Jo-Jo!" Arisa crossed her arms.

The door opened as Joey stepped out. Black dress shoes, black slacks, white dress shirt with a black tie. With a black cape which was red on the inside to finish it off. Yep, he was dressed as Mr. Volcano. "Look at me. I look like a point dexter in this outfit!"

"You look like a sexy point dexter in this outfit." Arisa said silently.

"What was that?" Joey asked.

"Oh nothing…" Arisa smiled innocently as Joey walked back into the dressing room to change. "Don't take forever. I still have to get my shoes."

"Like you don't have an outfit to get!" Joey responded, but it was muffled from the door to the change room that was between the both of them.

"I already have mine in mind. Unlike you, some of us don't wait for the last minute." Arisa said.

"Alright, then who are you goin' as?" He asked.

"It's a surprise, but it sure as hell isn't Dark Magician Girl or Magician's Valkyria." She informed. Arisa was becoming irritated by the whole "Dark Magician Girl" thing. At first, she was flattered as she was her favorite Duel Monster. But lately it was becoming annoying with people asking "Are you going as Dark Magician Girl Arisa?" if not shouting, "Hey, it's Dark Magician Girl!" At one time she was considering cutting her hair or at least dying it to a different color. But she was so emotionally attached to her long blonde hair as she loved it so much. She then considered getting contacts to change her eye color from green to blue, or maybe purple but she has heard about color-changing contacts could possibly cause some infections to the eyes if it wasn't done the right way and. And mentioning Magician's Valkyria was just hiding from what they really meant to her.

"I'll find out!" Joey vowed, "You'll have to tell me sooner or later!"

"Which will be when I meet you all at the dance!" Arisa added as she smirked.

"Why can't we both go together? We're a couple aren't we?"

"Yeah…but…my costume's not finished yet!" Arisa said.

Joey stepped out, back in his usual white T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were hiding something from me…"

"Must you be so suspicious?" Arisa blinked. "Don't you trust me?" She asked in a mock-hurt voice.

"Of course I do!" Joey stated. "It's that…" He sighed. "Sorry…"

Arisa giggled, "Now let's go so we can get my shoes, alright?" She placed an arm around his shoulder. "Those shoes Serenity had on the other day? I'd like a pair of those!"

"You only want those because she was wearing them when she kicked Kaiba in the balls." Joey snickered.

"That, and they'd so look cute on me, don't ya think Love?"

Nightfall came and thus the costume dance party began. Every student who was anyone was there. From the geeks, to the jocks, and even the weird and insane! However, there was only a few who haven't arrived at the dance…

The limo arrived as Kaiba, dressed in his Vampire Lord costume, stepped out.

"Keep the engine running." He said. "This won't take long…"

Kaiba walked in as he then looked around. Everyone was dressed as a Duel Monster, from the fat guy from the Just Deserts trap card to the hero from the trap card A Hero Emerges.

"She said she would be dressed as Shadow Tamer…" He said to himself as he browsed through the crowd. However, he was almost knocked down to the ground as Kaiba glared at the Flame Swordsman. "Wheeler if that's you? I'm gonna-"

"Excuse me?" The guy replied. He didn't have blonde hair blue green. And his eyes were grey, not brown. "I think you have me confused for someone else."

Kaiba growled as he walked away. "Where is she?" He exclaimed, growing impatient. He didn't really want to be here but Mokuba "convinced" him to come to the party. Then at least he could actually meet the girl Debra Wilson apparently set him up with.

"If Wilson stood me up and got me here for nothing I'll…" Kaiba stopped as she saw the girl: Long Blue hair, white, dark red, and gold dress, dark red gloves and thigh high boots with matching whip. Yep, it was Shadow Tamer alright. "So this must be her…" He said as he approached her. "Excuse me, are you Kara Wilson?"

The girl turned around with a smile. "Yes. Yes I am." She said sweetly as Kaiba then was in shock. "Is there something wrong?"

'Why does she seem so familiar to me?' Kaiba thought as he looked into her blue eyes. 'Where did I see her before?'

"Er…hello? Are you okay?" Kara asked the stunned CEO, who was at a complete loss for words.

* * *

So Kaiba meets his date, but why is he so freaked out after he sees her? It's not like she's ugly right? Also, since the person dressed as the Flame Swordsman wasn't Joey, who do you think he's going as, or will there be more than one Flame Swordsman showing up? Also, just who is Arisa going to dress up as? Find out in the next installment! 


	9. You look familiar!

Now for the latest installment! Either in the middle of the next chapter or in the beginning of the one after that, it's back to the group meetings for Joey, Arisa, and Kaiba!

LadySaturnGirl – Thanks and as for your guess…just wait and see…

Angel-Belle – S'okay. I'll _try_ to make some descriptions of the monsters or cards they cosplay as. That's right, I said cards. Why? You'll see.

Magicman/Smokegirl – On Arisa's costume…sorry, it's not Mystical Elf. But it was a good guess though.

Sanura-sama – You want to know who she is? You're gonna find out.

* * *

"Hello…" Kara waved a hand in Kaiba's face. "You okay?" She was worried. Her sister Debra has gone through the trouble of finding her a date for the dance since, as hard as it was to believe, she never had the best luck when it came to guys or at least trying to get them to go out with her. She was a beautiful girl with long blue hair, blue eyes and a nice smile. However, her shyness played a huge factor with the opposite sex as it was both a blessing and a curse: The guys she was too shy to talk to would just be taken by the other girls, while the rest would try to take advantage of her. She may have been shy, but she wasn't stupid. "Seto Kaiba…?"

Kaiba blinked, snapping out from his trance. "How do you know my name?"

"For someone owning his own company at a young age, how can anyone _not_ know who you are?" She giggled. "And besides, my sister told me about you."

"Right…" Kaiba sighed, remembering that she was the girl Debra told him about. But why did she look so familiar to him? It was like he knew her from someplace before. Like an old friend. Damn it, why was this so confusing?

"So…are you okay?" Kara asked. "You were zoning out."

"I'm fine." He simply said, then examined her. "Tell me, have we met before?"

"Not that I can remember." She said. "Why? Am I supposed to?"

'Good question,' Kaiba thought, trying to figure out why this girl looked so familiar to him.

Meanwhile, the door opened as Joey stepped in, wearing a tuxedo save for the jacket for some reason. Then again, this was his costume: Sand Gambler.

"Nice party…" He said to himself. "Now to find-"

"Could you wait up for just one second?" Tristan complained as he then walked in with Serenity. Tristan was dressed in camo pants tucked into a pair boots, as well as a metal facemask and a blaster gun. Yes, he was once again Cyber Commander.

Serenity was wearing Green cargo pants tucked into a pair of Black Boots, as well as light blue T-shirt. Save for a pair of angel wings and a Blue Beret. Serenity was going as Command Angel to match, to a degree, with Tristan.

"Jeez Tristan, no need to put your panties in a bunch!" Joey replied as he browsed through the crowd.

"Well you were in a big rush to get here…" Serenity reminded. "Who are you looking for, any-" She then thought the obvious. "Don't answer that. I already know."

"She could've gone with us, ya know." Tristan said.

"Tell me about it. She says that her costume's a bit of a surprise..." Joey shrugged as he then smirked. "Hmph, some surprise. I tell ya Arisa's a true work of art!"

Tristan and Serenity was puzzled until they then saw the Dark Magician girl at the refreshment stand helping herself with a cup of punch, back facing them.

Joey approached her. "And I thought you weren't going to dress up as the Dark Magician girl. But here you are! But I love ya anyway…" He said as he placed his arms around her waist. "You may look like Dark Magician Girl, but you're my Dark Magician Girl."

"Umm…Joey, I'm not Arisa!" She replied. It wasn't the sweet soft voice of his girlfriend…not saying that the voice of the person in front of him wasn't sweet and soft, just not as sweet and peppy as Arisa's.

Joey jumped back, startled and embarrassed by his revelation. "Tea!?"

Tea sighed as she removed the hat and wig to reveal that it was her. "Yeah…who were you expecting, your girlfriend?"

"Yeah…" He said, wanting to walk away but Tristan shot him a 'Remember what we talked about?' look.

"Joey…we need to talk." She said, also seeing Tristan's look on his face. Apparently she thought that it meant for her.

"Sure…" Joey sighed as the two walked to a pair of chairs, dodging the large group of dancing Duel Monsters in their path.

"So what's up?" Joey asked as he sat down in the chair as well as Tea, but she crossed her legs.

"Well…about what happened yesterday…" Tea said, shuffling her blue and pink boot-clad feet. "I just want to say-"

"Hey, forget about it." Joey cut her off as he sighed. "I'm over it."

"No Joey, you have to hear this." Tea said, then asked. "You want to know why I've been acting the way that I have?"

"Wait Tea, before you tell me. Just let me apologize for, ya know, about screaming at you and all."

"It's okay…I have been pushing you a bit far." She sighed. "I'm just worried about you. I mean, you hardly make good enough grades to get by, and you…well…used to have an attitude problem. And when we found out about this group you're going too, I was hurt. You've been going there for weeks and you didn't even bother to tell us, not even Yugi and me."

"Well…I didn't want to burden you guys with my problems. I mean with my Dad abusing me and drinking, talking about when he found my sister he was going to kill my mom and rape my sister…" He sighed, "It was just too much to lay out on you."

"Joey…" Tea said, just imagining what Joey must've gone through. No wonder Joey used to be a bully! How was he supposed to learn right from wrong when his father was possibly the worst role model he ever had?

"I had a lot of shit to deal with: My mom and Serenity leaving. Dad using me as his favorite punching bag as he got drunk just about every night… Then I met Yugi. I decided to let out my frustrations on him. I didn't physically hurt him or anything, just messing with him. I was basically doing the kid a favor by toughing him up. He was too trusting. But it turned out that it was him that changed me."

Tea nodded, "So is everything okay, now that your dad's gone and your mom and Serenity moved back in?"

"It's been great…with Serenity…" He admitted. "But with Ma, I'm not sure. After all, she never told me why she didn't take me with her in the first place. She's probably thinking up a good excuse. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that she really hates me…"

"Now you're acting like an idiot!" Tea said sternly. "If your mom doesn't care about you, why'd she come back for you? You could've been put up for adoption…"

"Probably out of pity…" He figured. "If she really cared, why she left me with that bastard? Why did she basically leave me for dead? Every time I ask her, she tries to avoid the question."

"I think you and your mom need to sit down and have a long talk…" She said before going back on subject. "Anyways, what I've been trying to tell you is…that I was hoping that…"

"Hoping that what, Tea?"

"Hoping that you and I could…"

Before she could finish, a few voices were shouting at the entrance, which interrupted Tea.

"Look at her costume!" One said.

"Whoo-Hoo! Now that's what I'm talking about!"

"What's that about?" Tea wondered.

"Hey Joey!" Tristan called out, leaving the crowd. "Remember when you said Arisa's costume was going to be a surprise?"

"Yeah!"

"Well she's heeeeeere!" He finished in a voice that was a mixture of tease and sing-song.

"Be right back Tea…"Joey told her as he jumped out of his seat and sprinted towards the crowd.

"But Joey, you didn't give me the chance to finish! The chance…" Tea said, but it was hopeless as Joey and Tristan were long gone. "To say how I really feel about you…" She finished sadly.

When he reached to the front of the crowd, Joey's eyes went wide. "What the-"

Kaiba looked into Kara's eyes again. They were blue, but not like his which were cold and lacking emotion. They were blue like the ocean, almost like her mid-back-length hair. Her skin was tanned, as he then looked down at her…umm…assets which were fairly big. They weren't exactly big melons, but they weren't small apples either. Damn it, now that annoyance of a conscious of his would never let him hear the end of it. He could hear it now, "I told ya you like girls with big boobs! See, I know what you like!" He then noticed a golden cross around her neck which gave a small flash.

"Umm…Seto?" Kara asked as she pointed up towards her face. Even her voice was familiar! "Eyes up here, buddy!"

"Sorry…" He said a bit startled. So startled that he forgot that she called him "Seto," which only Mokuba was allowed to call him that. "I was just admiring your necklace…" He said, a bit in a "You buy that, right" voice. After all, it was partially true.

"Oh this?" She showed her necklace. "My dad got this for me when he went on a trip to Egypt."

Kaiba's eyes went wide then narrowed at the word. "Egypt." It was all making sense now. "Egypt?" He looked at Kara again as she nodded. Blue hair, blue eyes! Now he remembered where he saw her before. "Okay, who are you and what do you think you're trying to pull?" He said in his usual coldness in his voice.

"What are you talking about?" Kara asked, surprised at Kaiba's actions.

"You know what I'm talking about. The gold necklace around your neck! And, assuming that they're not really your natural color, your blue hair and blue eyes!" He hissed.

"Yeah? What about them?" She replied, aggravated by Kaiba's behavior.

"Don't play dumb with me girl! Just how much money is Ishizu paying you?" He asked, growing impatient. He believed that Debra and Ishizu made a deal for Kara to pose as the girl he saw in his vision back during the duel against Ishizu in the Battle City Finals. How low will that hocus pocus lady go just to get him to believe in those superstitious fairy tales?

Kara blinked. "What?"

Kaiba dug into his pocket as he then took out his checkbook. "Okay…whatever Ishizu is paying you, I'll triple it if you tell her to take her talks about destiny and the ancient past and shove it up her ass! How many times do I have to tell her that I don't believe in those-"

"What the hell are you talking about!?" She shouted at him. "I never met this Ishizu person you're talk about! All I wanted was someone to meet at the dance, someone who I could really get to know, and my sister was gracious enough to help me. I thought that I found that person tonight…" Kara sighed as she then walked away. "I guess I was wrong…"

"Keep convincing yourself with those stories you're using to cover up why you're really here, I don't believing you. And tell your friend Ishizu that if she sends someone else out there to annoy me, I'll sue for harassment!" Kaiba said to her.

"What's his problem anyway…" Kara asked as she brushed back her blue hair. "How can someone be that paranoid? Probably comes with the territory of being a CEO of a big company…" However, a flash then emitted from her golden cross as Kara's slightly curled hair straightened. "Is it really him?" She asked, but in a slightly calmer voice that showed maturity, as she took a glance at the Vampire Lord.

* * *

Well that's it for this chapter. It appears that Kaiba was right…to _some_ extent. But what will happen now between Kara and Kaiba? Also Arisa arrives at the dance, but what is her costume? And why are the guys so excited over it? Find out in the next installment! 


	10. Costumes, Arguments, and Handcuffs

Sorry for taking, like, forever to update, but I had other stories I was working on. Again I apologize.

**Angel-Belle** - Nice guess, but are you right? Find out for yourself in this chapter.

**Magicman/Smokegirl** – For Arisa's costume, I think you'll be surprised.

**Sanura-sama** – Don't worry, you'll find out in this chapter.

**LadySaturnGirl** – Well that theory is true, some guys could act that way over trivial matters (I'm a guy I should know.).

Disclaimer, just incase I need to do so: I don't own anything that has to do with Yugioh with the exception of my OCs (Arisa, Kara, etc.) and whatever fake cards I might make in this or any of my current and future stories.

* * *

"What…the heck?" Joey asked his girlfriend, confused about her costume.

"Well hello Joey!" Arisa chirped as she twirled around in her costume. She had managed to change the color of her hair from blonde to a dark purple, but kept a few blonde "streaks." She was wearing Dark Magician Girl's Dress and holding the wand, but they were white and pink instead of blue and pink and she was had Dunames Dark Witch's chest armor as it showed a bit of cleavage, as well as her white boots, gloves and wings. Finally, the Dark Magican Girl's hat was also White and Pink but Dunames Dark Witch's crown was underneath it. "What'd ya think?" She modeled for him. "You like?"

"Who…what are ya supposed to be?" Joey asked.

"All this just because she showed some cleavage?" Tristan asked, dumbfounded by the way the other guys were acting. "It's just showing the top of her breasts, get a grip guys!"

"Well…I decided to do something different. Okay, I'd admit that I was considering going as Dark Magician Girl, but I also wanted to go as Dunames Dark Witch so I decided to do something no one else though of doing: Combining both ideas into one!

Tea, wondering what was the commotion about, overheard Arisa's explanation. "What are _you_ supposed to be?" She said a bit coldly. It was already bad enough that Arisa had the guy that should've been hers, now she's was taking away whatever time she could have with Joey, let alone when she was going to tell him how she felt.

Arisa slightly glared at Tea. "I'm supposed to be Dark Magician Girl, but then again, I'm supposed to be Dunames Dark Witch! So I put two and two together and came up with this outfit! Just call me Dunames Dark Magician Witch!" She noticed Tea skeptical expression. "Okay, so I dressed up as one of the new cards Pegasus plan on releasing. You'd know about them too if you went online often!" Arisa admitted, "But still, I do look pretty good, right?"

"As good as a root canal…" Tea mumbled under her breath as Arisa posed with the staff, much to the admiration of Joey and Tristan, who then remembered his date, Serenity.

"Guys, I gotta get back to-" Tristan was then interrupted as he saw his Command Angel, who was dancing with a certain "Dice Boy," who was dressed as Armed Ninja. "I don't think so Devlin!" Tristan snapped as he stormed over and pushed him out of the way so he could dance with Serenity.

"Remind me to kill them both later…" Joey muttered, thinking about how they're putting Serenity into the middle of their scuffles which were making her feel rather uncomfortable.

His thoughts were interrupted as Arisa pulled him onto the dance floor. "So who are you supposed to be? I don't think that James Bond is a Duel Monster." She snickered.

"You don't recognize me? I'm the trap card Sand Gambler!"

"Why didn't you dress up as the Flame Swordsman?" Arisa mock-whined.

"The same reason you didn't want to be Dark Magician Girl!" Joey said.

"You don't look anything like the Flame Swordsman!"

"But everyone always think that I'm going to dress up as Flame Swordsman, so I decided to try something different. Besides, I thought you'd like to see a guy in a tux!"

Arisa giggled, "True…"

Tristan, in mid-dance, noticed the sad expression on Tea's face, who held her hat and wig in her hand. He looked back towards Serenity. "I'll be back in a bit."

She nodded. "Okay Tristan. But do you want me to come along and help?"

"Thanks but no thanks Serenity. It's a private matter."

Serenity nodded, "I understand."

Tristan walked over to his friend. "What's wrong Tea? Did you tell him?" He asked.

"I didn't even get the chance…" Tea said, partially teary-eyed.

"Well…it's my fault. If I haven't had dragged Joey to Arisa, you would've told her."

Tea sighed, but how am I suppose to tell him how I feel when she's leeching onto him?" Tea said.

"Hey, use her name!"

"How am I supposed to tell him how I feel when Arisa's leeching onto him?

"Say it more nicely."

Tea sighed in frustration. "How am I supposed to tell him how I feel when Arisa's with him?"

"You just have to tell him some other way? How about by email?" Tristan suggested, even though he already told Joey!

"Tristan, things like this can't be just explained by email." Tea explained.

"Then why did you tell me by email?"

Tea sighed, "Tristan, it's easier to tell you and Yugi because we're just friends. But it's harder to tell Joey because…umm…well…it's just…well…it just is!"

"Okay Tea, calm down…"

"Like you know what it's like to be in love?" Tea snapped, then realized what she just said. "Tristan, I am so sorry. I-"

"Don't worry about it. I'd probably be the same way…" Tristan sighed, remembering his situation with Serenity and Duke.

"Don't play dumb with me Ishizu! I caught one of your employees trying to convince me by dressing up as that woman from my vision! No, I won't calm down! And I'm going to tell you this for one last time: I DON'T BELEVE IN THAT HOCUS POCUS BULLSHIT!"

"Don't believe in what?" A familiar voice asked as Kaiba looked down as he then glared.

"Mallovic…how long have your been standing here?"

"Long enough to know that you're going crazy, Kaiba-Boy!" She simply said as she treated herself with a cup of fruit punch.

"Hmph, where's Wheeler? You two geeks are so up each other's asses it's hard to tell who begins and who ends!"

"IF you must know, Joey's in the restroom." Arisa took a sip out of the punch. "Tasted a lot better with the sherbert ice cream, that's for sure…" She commented on the punch. "Oh, would you by any chance know why Kara's so upset?"

"You mean that blue-haired phony?" Kaiba asked icily.

Arisa glared at Kaiba. "I knew _you_ had something to do with it! When there's someone in a bad mood, Seto Kaiba's not too far behind! All she wanted to do was just to get to know ya, and you pulled this crap about her being hired by some lady name 'Shizo' or whatever her name was." She sighed. "You know, I almost feel sorry for you…_almost_."

"Save your pity for the weak, like you…" Kaiba crossed his arms.

"So what are you doing here anyway? Don't you 'have a company to run?'" Arisa mocked in the same cold tone as Kaiba.

"I was here to meet someone, god knows why I agreed to it, but it turned out to be a complete waste of my time." Kaiba simply said.

"Funny…that's exactly the same thing Kara said about you." Arisa said as she filled up another cup of punch which, as one could guess, was for Joey.

"What?" Kaiba glared. How dare she say that he, Seto Kaiba, _the_ Seto Kaiba, was a waste of time? He made more money this month than she'll make in 3 years! He's done more things by the age of 16 than she'll ever do by the age of 60! The nerve of her!

"That's right...She thought that her sister had set her up with a nice guy. But instead it turned out to be you, Rich Boy."

"You're starting to sound more like Wheeler each day…" Kaiba said.

"I doubt it. Otherwise I'd have a Brooklyn Accent." Arisa scoffed. "And you're supposed to be smart? Doubt it!" She then grabbed the two cups. "Now if you excuse me, I have to meet my boyfriend. Later Dracula!"

"Good riddance…talking to a little girl like you is a complete waste of my time." Kaiba muttered as he watched Arisa walk off.

Arisa tensed at the "little girl" comment. She wasn't extremely short, as far as teen girls go. Only about 5'4½, but she was somewhat sensitive to that. Through her earlier childhood, people have always made fun of her height, or lack thereof. She knew she was short, but she didn't need it to be thrown into her face, much less by Kaiba, the devil himself.

She walked to the restroom doors and stood near the door to the men's room.

After about a few seconds, Joey walked out as he adjusted his jacket. "Hey 'Risa, what's up?"

"Here's your drink." Arisa gave Joey his cup, which he then drunk it down, all in one breath, much to her shock. "You didn't have to drink it all down like that."

"I was thirsty." Joey said. "So what happened while I was on the John?"

"I ran into Kara, who was in a lousy mood. Then I ran into Kaiba."

"What did Moneybags want with you?" Joey asked.

"Actually I spoke to him first, who was yelling about not believing in, as he said, 'that hocus pocus bullshit.'"

Joey sighed, "That again…"

Arisa blinked, "You know what he's talking about."

"It's a long story…"

"I have time…"

Following that night, the weekend was what you'd expect from teenagers: A time of fun and happiness. But we're going to fast forward to Monday as that's where the story continues.

"Joey, come on!" Arisa said impatiently as Joey was closing his locker door.

"Alright, I'm coming already! Keep yer shirt on!" Joey said as he picked up his bag. "No way am I going to be late! Not this time."

"That's good!" Arisa nodded as she grabbed his arm.

"Nothing's gonna stop me today!" Joey said confidently as the couple proceeded to head out the building.

"JOEY!"

"Oh no…" Joey sighed. He should've known that as soon as he said that, something like this would've happened.

Arisa rolled her eyes. "What do you want, Tea?"

"I need to talk to you Joey!" She said to her friend.

"Not now Tea! We need to go home to get changed, then we have to go to the YMCA building." Joey simply said. "Whatever it is can wait!"

"No, it can't wait!" Tea declared as she narrowed her eyes.

"Sure it can! Tell me tomorrow." Joey said as he and Arisa was about to walk off, but Tea grabbed his arm.

"No! Then it'll be the same thing tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that! You're going to listen to what I have to say, and you're going to listen now!"

"I'll see you later Tea." Joey said as he tried to walk off, but he felt a metallic-like band wrap around his wrist. He looked down, "The hell?"

"You forced me to do this Joey Wheeler." Tea said as she placed on the other cuff on her wrist. "I've been trying to tell you something, but you've been distracted by her." She glanced at Arisa who glared at her back. "Now wherever you two go, I won't be far behind."

"You do have the keys to the handcuffs, right?" Joey asked.

Tea blinked. The handcuffs were originally going to be a last resort for her to get Joey to finally listen, so she didn't bother getting the key as she thought that she wasn't going to use them, but Joey ignoring her had pushed her. But now she was wishing that she never had those handcuffs in the first place. "Well…I…"

"Smooth move Tea…" Arisa said dryly. "I was hoping to change out of my uniform…" She scoffed, "Like that's going to happen now without us being late."

"Well sor-ry!" She retorted, then remembered. "Wait! The key to the cuffs is on my desk at home. If we go to my place and grab the key, maybe you guys will make it!"

"No time. You know how the streets are when school's out!" Joey reminded. " The only way I see us getting out of the handcuffs, changing, then going to the YMCA building is to call someone to give us a ride home and there. The only people we know that can do so are our parents who're probably at work, and there's no way in hell Kaiba's going to help us."

"Well, do you have a better idea?" Arisa asked, becoming annoyed with the situation.

"We could call a cab!" Joey suggested.

"I don't think that we have enough money to cover a trip to each of our houses, then to the YMCA building." Arisa said then sighed. "This would've been avoided if you haven't used the fucking cuffs Tea!"

"Well it's the only way to get Joey's attention without you leeching on to him so much I can't even say hello to him!" Tea snapped back at the shorter blonde.

"Will you two calm down?" Joey asked, feeling a migraine coming. "We don't need this right now! Not in the situation we're in." Joey ponders, "To the cafeteria!"

"How can you think of food at a time like this?" Arisa asked.

"Nope, I have an idea." Joey said as he, Arisa, and – without any choice – Tea headed for the Cafeteria. Joey glanced down on the cuff that was on his arm. Tea hardly placed it on tight, but he knew he couldn't slide out from them. At least not without a bit of help…

"Please let it be open let it be open…" He hope to himself at the got nearer and nearer. But to their dismay, the door which led to the Cafeteria was found to be locked. "Damn it!"

"What was your plan Joey?" Tea asked.

"I was going to go to the back, dip my hand into butter, and slide my hand out of the handcuffs." Joey explained. "I figured that I'd scratch myself, maybe even severely. But at least we'll get out of the cuffs."

Arisa sighed, "Now what are we going to do…?"

* * *

Joey and Arisa were doing so well, but then Tea just had to butt in with her handcuffs. Now it appears that Joey is stuck with Tea. Will they find a way to get the handcuffs off, or will they have to go to the group with Tea along for the ride. Also, expect a twist in the upcoming chapters!


	11. The Calm and The Storm

And now, here's the next installment of A Different Beat. Also, at the end, a summary of the next two stories I'm working on. 

**Sanura-sama** – All of this is just the calm before the storm to what'll happen between Tea and Arisa.

**LadySaturnGirl** – Yeah, people could do something like that as a last resort. Also as for the twist…let's just say that Kaiba may have something to do with it.

**Puffin** – I'm not really into Kaiba/Joey, or any other guy/guy paring stories (Typical guy, I know), unless the plot interests me. But I'm happy you like this story.

Now on with the story!

* * *

"Arisa, ya got any ideas?" Joey asked. 

"No!" Arisa sighed. "Unless one of you guys could live with losing a hand…"

"Like that's going to happen." Tea said as she looked down at her wrist and seeing the handcuffed laced around it.

"Damn it Tea, it's all your fault!" Arisa hissed.

"I SAID I WAS SORRY!" Tea snapped, not able to take this abuse anymore. She already felt remorse for handcuffing her and Joey together, but Arisa didn't have to throw it into her face.

"So now what are we supposed to do?"

"You could skip a session…" Tea suggested. "I mean, you could miss one session. It's not like it would kill you."

Arisa gave a death glare to Tea as Joey sighed.

"Joey, what's so great that you have to go today.

"Two words Tea: 'Ice' and 'Cream.'" Joey explained.

"_That's_ a good reason?" Tea said, rolling her eyes.

"You damn right it's a good reason!" Arisa snapped at the brunette. Ice cream was to Arisa as Donuts were to Joey. She just couldn't get enough of it. Every Monday at the meetings, they would have Ice Cream. Arisa's favorite was Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, with Strawberry Sherbet being second. "If I miss that smooth, cool taste of ice cream I swear to God I'll kill you!"

Tea scoffed, "It's just Ice Cream!"

"Quiet! It's more than just Ice Cream! I mean, what else is going to keep you cool in the summer, when you need that sweet, moist taste, especially when Candy and Cake aren't gonna cut it?"

"Look girls, from the way I see it we only have two options: Take Tea with us or-"

"Don't say it!" Arisa snapped in panic.

"Okay, so it looks like we're!"

"Joey, I would like to change clothes!" Tea reminded.

"Well it looks like you'll be in that uniform longer than you thought, 'cause we are going to that meeting whether you like it or not!" Arisa stated cruelly.

"You're not the boss of me! You can't tell me what to do, or make me do what I don't want to do!"

"You should've thought of that before you decided to handcuff yourself to Joey!"

"OKAY, let's go!" Joey said as he yanked Tea along, with Arisa following. "We're going to the YMCA building and that's final!"

"But Joey, I-" Tea tried to protest, but it was futile.

"AND THAT'S FINAL!" Joey snapped, already having enough of the arguments.

In the limo Kaiba wasn't exactly in the best of moods. All Weekend he was just thinking about Kara, the girl he met at the dance. The girl who he also said was just some girl hired by Debra, her sister, and Ishizu for what? Just so Kaiba can believe in some fairytale that supposedly happened 5000 years ago? Now, Kaiba was on the way to the group, where he was sure that he was going to get an earful from Debra. He was wondering why he was going there, but then remembered: He was doing this for Mokuba's sake. The last thing Kaiba needed was Foster Care taking Mokuba away because they believed that he was living in an unsafe, unfit living environment.

"You really messed that up…" Seto said to Kaiba.

"Mess what up, that false relationship with that fake?" Kaiba roared.

"She had everything you could ever want, but instead your paranoia ruined that."

"You'd be paranoid too if you had 5 of your employees betray you and plot to take everything you ever worked for away from you!" Kaiba snapped at his conscience.

"Knowing you, everyone else would've left you by now. But I'm staying with you!"

"Like you could leave me, YOU'RE MY CONSCIENCE YOU IDIOT!" Kaiba roared.

"Not by choice, unfortunately…At least you're going to today's session."

"Whoop-pe-doo!" Kaiba muttered. "Let's just get this crap over with. I still have to finish the new project!"

Seto sighed, "He just never learns…"

The limo has arrived at the YMCA building as Kaiba stepped out from his limo. As he walked inside, Debra from the front desk gave him a glare.

"Why am I even here…" Kaiba asked himself silently as he ignored Debra and walked into the room. As soon as the door shut, his eyes went wide. "You're kidding me, right?"

Kara began to notice Kaiba. "Seto Kaiba…please take a seat!" She said, a bit coldly to the CEO. But there was something strange about her from what he saw at the dance Friday: Her hair was straighter than usual, and her voice sounded more mature.

Kaiba sneered, "Still trying to convince me to believe in those fairytales, are we?"

Kara ignored them and check to see who was missing. "It appears that only two people are absent…"

"What are you doing here anyway 'Kara?' Where's Corsiack?" Kaiba asked.

"She had a family emergency! And since I have a psychology internship, I was sent here to fill in for her."

"Great…" Kaiba muttered. The bright side through off of this was that Joey and Arisa weren't there today.

Much to his dismay, the door opened as Arisa stormed in, dragging Joey and, consequently, Tea.

"Now where's the ice cream!" Arisa asked, but then noticed Kara. "…Where's Deliah?"

"She had a family emergency, so I'm filling in for her." Kara explained to her friend, then noticed Arisa and Joey's attire. "Why are you guys still in your school uniform?" 

"Ask her?" Arisa said coldly as she glared at a certain blue eyed, brown-haired girl, much to Kaiba's shock.

"Gardner?"

"Kaiba!?" Tea noticed the CEO, who groaned in frustration.

"Who else knows I'm here!" He glared at Joey.

"I thought you weren't going to be here Kaiba."

"I have to be here with you geeks if I want to keep-" Kaiba stopped himself. No way was he going to tell anyone about his problems, least of all Wheeler!

"Whatever, let's get started already!" Joey said as he took a seat.

"So Joey, who is she?" Jess pointed towards Tea. "Your girlfriend?" She asked in a teasing tone

Tea blushed at that accusation as Arisa gave Jess a death glare.

"No Jess, she's not. You know I'm with Arisa."

"Damn right, and don't you forget it!" Arisa said to Jess.

"Okay, then why are you two, like, handcuffed to each other?"

"Yeah Tea! Why don't you just tell us why you had to go through such extreme measures?" Arisa asked arms crossed against her chest.

"Maybe if you weren't so much of a leech to Joey and kept him away from his friends so long that he doesn't have time to even talk to us I wouldn't have to go through extreme measures!" Tea snapped at Arisa as Kaiba grew a grin on his face.

"Perhaps today will be amusing after all…" He said to himself.

"Umm…Tea…I'm right here." Joey reminded, but it went in vain as the two girls continued to argue.

"Are you really upset that I was 'so much of a leech to Joey and kept him away from his friends? Or is it because I kept him away from you?" Arisa asked as Joey sighed.

"It's about to hit the fan…" He said to himself.

"Wha-What are you talking about?" Tea asked, a bit nervous.

"It's so obvious Tea! I mean why else would you handcuff yourself to Joey?" Arisa had a smirk on her face. "Ever since Joey and I started our relationship, you've been feeling insecure. Face it Tea, you may be the cheerleader, have straight A's, and be a master at DDR, but the truth is: You're just jealous!"

"…No I'm not…"

"Your actions speak louder than your words and they're saying that you are! Jealous that a 'little girl' like me has the guy you want, and you can't stand it! It's almost pathetic!"

Tea couldn't keep her emotions under control any longer as she then uncontrollably jumped onto Arisa. Unfortunately, since he was bounded to her, Joey fell from his chair, much to Kaiba's amusement.

"You sure know how to pick them, Wheeler!" Kaiba smirked.

"Shut up Kaiba! At least I have a girlfriend!" Joey retorted.

"Like I'd want one…" Kaiba scoffed as the two girls began to fight with hair pulling, with Arisa moving on top of Tea.

"CATFIGHT!" Jackson shouted.

Kara was staring blankly for a minute, but then noticed her friend fighting. "Come on Arisa!" Kara tried to pull Arisa off, but it was no use, as she sunk her nails into Tea's face. Kara's voice was back to normal as her hair curled up a small bit.

"Knock it off, Tea!" Joey said, trying to pull her away from his girlfriend!

"This is better than Jerry Springer!" Jackson exclaimed as he began to chant. "Take it off! Take it off! Take it off!" He then noticed the glares of Jess, Kaiba, Kara, and pretty much everyone else. "Oh right…"

"I'M GONNA KILL HER, I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL HER!" Tea screamed as she managed to pull out a small chunk of Arisa's blonde hair.

"THAT'S ENOUGH TEA!" Joey shouted as he yanked her off of Arisa as he then placed her over his shoulders.

"PUT ME DOWN JOEY!" Tea screamed. "PUT ME DOWN!"

"PUT HER DOWN JOEY, SO I CAN BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF THAT FUCKING CHEERLEADER!" Arisa screamed struggling in Kara's grip, as Joey carried Tea out of the room.

* * *

It appears that things just became worse for Joey…in a way. His girlfriend and his friend, who happened to have a crush on him, were just in the middle of a fight. To make things worse, Kaiba's there. What will happen now? Will Tea finally tell him, or does Joey have something to tell Tea? Also, a summary of the next two stories I'm working on: 

**The Joe(y) Schmo Show!** [Rated R]

Joey is a constant of the newest Reality Show, The King's Hand of Luxury. What Joey doesn't know that the entire show is fake! Much less that his "competition" are actually people he knows, but with different identities.

**Spira's**** Tournament** [Rated PG-13]

Summary: Sequel to "A New Path." For the school year, Kaiba's unfortunately stuck with Rikku as his house guest, but will he have a change of heart for the blonde Al Bhed girl? Also, Pegasus is planning on starting a new tournament that'll take place in both Domino and Spira. However, the evil Yamis are back, but so is a certain Maester. But don't worry, help is on the way! Who? You'll have to find out!


	12. Three Reveals

And now, here's the next installment of A Different Beat. But first…

**Angel-Belle** – The catfight between Arisa and Tea was just a matter of time.

**LadySaturnGirl** – I'm sorry that you feel that way about them, but I'm sure you have your reasons.

**Magicman/Smokegirl **– I take it that you're a Joey/Tea fan. Anyway, on what happens now, just wait and see.

* * *

"JOEY WHEELER, YOU PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW!" Tea shouted as she hung on top of Joey's shoulder as he took her to the very back of the building.

Joey placed her back on her feet as he then glared at the brunette, "WHAT THE HELL IS YER PROBLEM TEA!?" He snapped!

"ARISA IS MY PROBLEM!" Tea screamed! "SHE'S ALWAYS BUTTING IN WHERE SHE DOESN'T BELONG OR WHERE SHE'S NOT WANTED! AND SHE TOOK…." Tea stopped as she looked down, which Joey took notice. It was true that her face was somewhat bruised and scratched during the fight with Arisa, but they were ignored by the sparkling streams that came from her eyes.

"She took what, Tea?" Joey asked. His attitude slightly calmed down. Honestly, he was becoming sick and tired of Tea and Arisa not getting along, and he did not want to choose sides. After he noticed Tea still being silent, he became even more frustrated. "What did Arisa take from you that made you want to jump her and try to claw her eyes out?"

"YOU! THAT'S WHAT SHE TOOK FROM ME!" Tea screamed, not able to control her emotions. So what if she told him her secret, it would be a blessing in disguise anyway.

Joey blinked. He already knew that Tea had feelings for him, thanks to Tristan, but he didn't want to hear it from her. Not by these circumstances. "What do I hav-"

"That's right! I like you Joey, but not the way you expected! I like you more than that! Wait, I take that back. I _love_ you! I love your messy blonde hair! I love your stupid Brooklyn Accent! I love your brown eyes! I just love you! I love you Joey Wheeler, ever since the first day we got to known each other at Burger World! You don't know how it hurt me to see you express your feelings with Mai! You don't know how it hurts me to see Arisa Mallovic with you, when it should be me there with you! Not Mai! Not sure as hell Arisa! But **me**!" Tea then dropped down to her knees as she began to cry, not carrying that her tears would stain her blue skirt.

Joey sighed, a large amount of guilt rushing over him. He should've just told her, instead of going off to Arisa, that he already knew about her feelings for him at the dance, instead of letting Tristan drag him over to see Arisa. Speaking of him, Tristan made him promise not to tell Arisa. Of all the times for Joey to be in a choke-tight spot, this was definitely in bad timing…

"Arisa, calm down!" Kara said to her friend, who had a bruise on her cheek and a black eye. "Remember where we are!"

"SO WHAT! THAT BITCH ATTACKED ME FIRST!" Arisa screamed.

"To be fair, you did instigate it!"

Arisa scoffed. "So you're on Tea's side?"

Kara sighed, "Look, two wrongs don't make a right! Yes, Tea shouldn't have attacked you, but you shouldn't have been taunting her!"

"She was part of the reason why Joey and I almost never went out!" Arisa reminded. "I'm sorry, but I can't be around Joey, knowing that that bitch will be there too!"

"I thought that you and Wheeler made an odd couple, but after today, you two deserve each other." Kaiba said coldly. "After all, you both don't know when to shut up, fight like the rabid dogs that you are, and you're both-"

"Cut it out, Kaiba!" Kara hissed. "We already have enough problems without you adding your two cents!"

"Or what are you going to do? Use your little Magic on me? Send me to the 'Shadow Realm' for eternity?" Kaiba mocked. "I don't believe in that hocus pocus-"

"Don't talk to my friend like that!" Arisa snapped at the CEO.

"I can talk to whoever I want any way I please! So what are you going to do about, _little girl_?" Kaiba smirked.

Arisa seethed. "What did you call me?"

"What's wrong? Is your mind incapable of knowing when you're being put in your place, chibi?"

"That's it! I tired of your 'holier than thou' attitude, Stretch!" Arisa broke from Kara's grip and went for a slap. She already was riled up from Tea, and the last thing she needed was Kaiba's snide remarks.

"Not this time!" Kaiba grabbed her wrist as he began to squeeze it…hard. Much to Arisa's pain, Kaiba then forcibly shoved her down as he then sneered, "Know your place, little girl!" What no one saw was a flash of the necklace Kara was wearing.

"ENOUGH!" She shouted, as she was giving a death glare to Kaiba. "Okay Arisa, you stay here with Jackson and Jess. Kaiba, you're coming with me!"

"Hmph, don't count on it." Kaiba muttered. "I'm not going anywh-"

"**NOW**!" She screamed. Much to the shock of everyone, especially Arisa, who has never, during the time that she had known her, ever seen Kara Wilson angry, much less this much.

"Whatever…" Kaiba said as he followed her out.

"I can see why Joey always wants to beat the shit out of him every time he sees him…" Arisa muttered as she favored her wrist, glaring at Kaiba.

"So are going to have any ice cream?" Jackson asked which earned a sigh of frustration from Jess.

However, Arisa blinked at Jackson's words. "Ice cream?" She asked. "Did you say Ice Cream?"

Jackson and Jess both sighed. About a few seconds ago she was pissed off, now all of the sudden she's giddy like a school girl over Ice Cream.

"You are something else, Arisa…" Jackson said.

"Yah!" Jess added.

'Is this guy really him?' Kara asked herself as she and Kaiba walked towards the side door that head to the outside. Once again, she didn't appear to be herself as her long blue hair was straightened again which, oddly enough, Kaiba didn't notice.

"Where are we going?" Kaiba asked, his patience wearing thin.

"To my car..." She said. "I need your help getting the first aid and ice cream!"

"Ice cream?" Kaiba scoffed. "You brought me out here for junk?"

"On Mondays we always have Ice Cream." She explained. "Arisa especially enjoys them…"

"Hmph, figures…"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Her and her boyfriend Wheeler both think alike!" Kaiba stated. "Do they ever think about anything important?"

"You might say that the couple's full of surprises. But then again, you could say that about anyone…"

"Hmph, if you're going to say anything about the so-called 'Millennium Items,' I swear to god I'll…"

Kara sighed, "I didn't want to resort to this…" Suddenly, the Eye of Horus appeared on her head as her cross necklace began to flash. Afterwards, Kaiba found himself unable to move as he was glowing.

"Wha-What the hell is this?" Kaiba yelled, slightly in fear of not being able to move.

A gust a wind must've passed by as Kara's hair began to blow upwards as she glared at him. "_Now_ do you believe Seto Kaiba?"

"Whatever cheap stunt you're pulling on me, it won't work!" Kaiba tried to muster enough strength to move, but his mind and body were not in sync with each other. "Damn, release me, fool! I don't believe in that hocus pocus bullshit!"

Kara's glare became more fearful, "Kaiba, you sound like a broken record."

"You can't be Kara…" Kaiba glared, beginning to think that magic was indeed real. "Just who are you?"

"Why Seto, I'm shocked that you don't remember me! But then again, it has been 5000 years, has it been?" "Kara" asked.

"All I know is that you look like that girl who was in my vision during my duel in the Battle City Finals!" Kaiba said as he felt her magical hold weakening. And since Kaiba was still trying to desperately break free, he ended up falling over.

"Kara" went over to help Kaiba back to his feet, but Kaiba held out a hand as if to say "Back off!"

"Just tell me, who are you?" Kaiba asked as he went to brush off his blue trenchcoat.

"Very well…" She said as Kaiba looked at her, waiting for her answer. "I'll explain. I am Kara Wilson, but then again, I'm not."

"You're crazy…" Kaiba sneered.

"Do you know about the golden puzzle that Yugi Moto wears around his neck?" She asked him.

"I know, but your friend Ishizu has also told me about how he's supposedly the Pharaoh!"

"Well, it's true. He holds the spirit of the Pharaoh, while you or at least you did hold the spirit of the Sorcerer."

"Then why don't you tell me your name lady!" Kaiba demanded as they began to walk, only to approach a red Toyota.

"Alright then…" She said as she produced the key from her purse. "It's Kisara!" She said, must to the shock of the CEO.

Joey sighed, "Look Tea…There's something I have to tell ya."

Tea looked up at the blonde her eyes were red from crying. "What is it Joey?"

"I have a confession to make." Joey said. "But first, promise me that you won't get mad."

"W-Why would I get mad?" Tea asked. "It's not like you burned my house down or something."

'You're gonna wish that I did after what I tell you…' Joey sighed. To hell with his promise to Tristan, he had to tell her! After all, she just made herself to be a total maniac! "Okay Tea, the truth is…I already knew…"

"You already knew…" Tea blinked, "About what?"

"How ya feel about me…" Joey said then sighed. 'There, I said it…now the fun begins.' He thought sarcastically.

"You mean…You mean to tell me, that after all the things I said, after what just happened back there…" Tea's sadness gradually turned into anger. "After me screaming, jumping into a fight with Arisa, and pouring my heart out to you… YOU TELL ME THAT YOU ALREADY KNEW HOW I FELT, ABOUT MY FEELIGNS FOR YOU!?"

"Yeah…so does Arisa…" Joey simply said which earned him a hard slap on the face.

"Damn you! Damn you for letting me make a fool of myself in front of everyone, in front of Arisa and Kaiba!" Tea snapped. "How did you even…" Tea stopped as she then scoffed. "I know, Tristan told you, right?"

"Yeah…" Joey admitted. "He made me swore not to tell anyone, especially you!"

"Typical of him…" Tea sighed. "You ask him to do one thing for you and he does the opposite, let alone when it comes to telling the _last_ person I wanted to know!"

"I'm sorry Tea…" Joey apologized.

"Don't be sorry for me. Be sorry for Tristan when I get my hands on him!" Tea hissed, imagining ripping off the spike he called hair and stabbing him with it.

"Whoa Tea, calm down!" Joey advised. "The first thing you need to do is to keep your cool!"

"Joey, this is probably the most humiliating day in my life, and you're telling me to keep my cool?" Tea asked him as if he suggested that she stripped out of her Domino High School uniform, in front of him!

"I mean all that stress isn't that good for ya." Joey explained.

"Joey, you're not exactly on any grounds to talk." Tea reminded. "You did yell at me when you asked me what was my problem!"

"Right…" Joey sighed as he remembered. "Sorry about that. But ya gotta understand Tea! I really like Arisa, and she really likes me! Like it or not!" He said.

"I understand…" Tea said feeling rejected. "But still, I was hoping that your feelings for Arisa would be for me!"

"Tea Tea Tea…" Joey placed a hand on her shoulder. "Just because Arisa's my girlfriend doesn't mean you not one of my pals anymore! And besides, what if Mai and I did go out? Would you pull something like this?"

Tea sighed as she shook her head. "No…because if you two did get together, I would be sure that it wouldn't last. Besides, she was too old for you. You needed someone around your age? You didn't want Mai to get into trouble for an underage relationship, right?"

Joey nodded. "Good point." Then he looked at Tea. "So what's up Tea, are we cool now or what?"

"Not exactly…" Tea admitted. "There's something that I've been keeping from you. You and Arisa exactly aren't going to be happy with me."

"Come on Tea, what could you possibly have done that'd really piss me off?" Joey asked.

'You asked for it…" Tea sighed as she sat down on a bench. "You remember about the key to the handcuffs?"

"I remember that you left it at home…" Joey said.

"Well…" Tea slipped out of her brown loafer on her right foot as she then removed the knee-high sock. Tea picked the sock up from the toe as then, the key dropped down. "There's another key, and I just remembered that I conveniently placed it in my sock." She said, hoping that Joey wouldn't get angry.

"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT-"

"Remember what you said about all that stress not being good for you?" Tea reminded as Joey then calmed down.

"Yeah…sorry…"

Tea patted her hand on Joey's shoulder. "It's okay…" She slipped back on her recently-removed articles of clothing as Joey took the key and freed himself from the handcuffs.

"You know Arisa's going to be very pissed off at you when she finds me coming back without you, let alone the handcuffs." Joey warned, favoring the now-freed-from-the-cuffs wrist.

"Can you please not tell her?" Tea asked, not wanting to get into another confrontation with Arisa.

Joey sighed. "I dunno…you know that a relationship between a boyfriend and a girlfriend is sacred, and consists strongly about trust."

"I know, but…can you please not tell her?" Tea begged.

"Fine…" Joey grabbed the handcuffs as he proceeded to close them onto his hand, applying as much pressure as possible. He knew that it wasn't smart to hurt himself, but he had to make his excuse look believable.

"Joey, what are you doing?" Tea asked as he then proceeded to intentionally scrape his hand with the cuffs.

Joey winced in pain as small amounts of blood proceeded to fill the scratch marks on his hand. "I'll just tell her that pulled my hand threw them so hard that it got scraped."

"Thanks Joey!" Tea hugged him, but then remembered that he was taken already. "I guess I'll be going now."

"Yeah…" Joey sighed. "Later Tea…"

"Goodbye Joey…" Tea said as she began to walk home.

"Tea?" Joey called out to her.

Tea turned back, "Hmm?"

"Are you sure you really forgot that you had the key in yer sock?" Joey asked accusingly.

"I'm serious! Look, today has been very stressful!" Tea said, in a somewhat frustrated tone.

"Okay, just making sure." Joey said as he then thought, 'After all, if I'm going to defend ya from my girlfriend, you must be honest with me.'

Tea sighed as she resumed her long walk home. "Why did I tell him about the key I had in my sock?" She asked herself sadly.

* * *

Well…poor Tea. But like she said, don't feel sorry for her, feel sorry for Tristan the next time she sees him. Also, with Kara…Kisara…whoever she will be in the therapist's role, what will happen? Find out in the next installment.


	13. Breaking The Icy Armor

The reviews have been slowed, but so as this story. I promise to update more often on this paticular story as I'm going to add another twist...that's not to say that the original one won't happen! It's comming...oh it's comming...

**LadySaturnGirl** – What's Tristan's fate? You'll have to wait and see!

**Magicman/Smokegirl** – Will Tea get Tristan? You'll have to wait and see!

**meluvugi** – The full name of Chapter 6 is "Dinners, Revelations, and Kaiba's First Day!" Don't you just hate it when they don't show the entire name? That's why from now on, I'm gonna try to keep the names of the chapters short and sweet.

* * *

Joey was favoring his hand which he had conveniently wrapped a wet hand towel around during a trip to the restroom. Now he was heading back to the room with everyone and needed to talk to Arisa. As much as he was upset for Tea attacking her, Arisa did taunt her into doing so. Also, he didn't want to lie to his girlfriend, but Tea was already, more or less, in a wreck, so he had to make her somewhat happy.

As Joey opened the door and stepped in, he was met with a few shocked faces, Especially from Arisa who rushed up to him.

"Joey! What happened?" She asked as she hugged him, then going to look at his hand. "Did that bitch Tea hurt you?"

Joey shook his head. "I decided to, no matter how much pain it'd cause me, to just yank my hand through the handcuffs." He lied.

"Ouch…" Arisa winced.

"I can say the same for you…" Joey said, noting Arisa's black eye. "Tea must've been more freaked out then I thought."

"Speaking of the cheerleader, what did you say to her?" Arisa asked.

"Well, I asked her what was her problem then she flipped out and told me how she felt."

"So she finally admitted it…"

"Then I told her that you and I are together and will stay together whether she liked it or not."

"I was wondering where that girl went." Jess said.

Joey looked around. "Where's Kaiba? Did he wimp out?"

"He's with Kara helping her with something."

"What? Kaiba actually helping someone?" Joey said skeptical that Kaiba would volunteer to help, at least unless there was something for him.

"Well…let's just say that Kara is _very_ persuasive." Arisa giggled.

"I guess I don't have to worry about her being with Kaiba…remind me to never get on her bad side."

"She likes you!" Arisa playfully punched him on the shoulder. "Remember that I told you that Kara had a crush on Yugi?"

"Yeah…" Joey sighed. "A shame that he likes someone else…"

"Who does he like?" Arisa asked as Joey then whispered in her ear.

"Tea."

"Oh…" Arisa said silently, but then blinked. Was she the same Tea? The same bitch who tried to get between her and Joey? Suddenly, an idea formed into the smaller blonde's mind. If she could hook Yugi and Tea up, maybe she wouldn't try to but into her and Joey's relationship.

At the car, Kaiba was taking a small cooler from the trunk as Kara…or Kisara held the first-aid kit in her hand.

"So let me get this straight." Kaiba said as he closed the trunk of the car before they began to take their trip back to the room. "You're Kisara, the spirit of the Millennium Cross?"

Kisara nodded, "That's correct."

"So…what were you anyway? Were you a Pharoah? A Priestess?"

Kisara shook her head. "Not really. I was in the lower class of society. I can remember on one fateful day, I was being hit with rocks by the village, just because I was different. I thought that I was going to die, that is until I was saved by him."

"And who was the man that saved you?" Kaiba asked.

"It was you, Seto!" She said, which caused Kaiba's eyes to go wide.

"Okay, now I know you're lying. That couldn't have happened 5000 years ago! I wasn't even born yet!"

"I'm sorry…I meant your past self. His name was also Seto."

"What a coincidence…" Kaiba said sarcastically as the two entered the building. 'I wonder what else this lady will say to get me to believe her crap…'

Suddenly, her Millennium cross flashed again and Kisara was gone. Only Kara remained.

"Everyone's waiting for the ice cream so come on Kaiba!" She said as she opened the door to the room. Much to their surprise, Joey was back but Tea was not. Also, for some reason Joey had his hand wrapped around a wet paper towel. It didn't take a rocket scientist to guess what happened.

"Did you yank your hand through the handcuffs?" Kara asked Joey.

"Yeah…" Joey nodded.

"Idiot…" Kaiba muttered under his breath, which Joey heard and glared at him.

"Was I talking to you?" He retorted.

"No, I just decided to grace your pathetic life by getting involved with your conversation Dog." Kaiba said, but noticed that he was being ignored. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, you stupid Mongrel! I refused to be ignored, least of all by you!"

"Unless you call me by name, I won't acknowledge you." Joey simply said as Kara went to him with the first-aid kit.

"Joey, you'll have to remove the towel so I could see how bad the scratches are."

"Don't worry about it." Joey assured. "It's nothing."

"Just like you…" Kaiba added.

"Do you always get in everyone's business?"

"It's none of your business!"

"Can we just get to the ice cream already?" Arisa asked as Kara went to treat a scratch on her neck thanks to Tea. "Owie owie owie owie…"

"Oh suck it up, you baby!" Kaiba hissed. "But then again, you act what you are."

"Baby!?" Arisa glared. "Why don't you take out whatever stick you have up your ass and-"

Kara opened the cooler and gave her an ice cream pop. "Here, have a Chocolate Éclair."

"Oooh…" Arisa smiled as she quickly removed the wrapper and proceed to fulfill her nourishment.

"She's easy to please…" Kaiba commented as everyone else grabbed some ice cream.

"Let's start today's session since we've already had enough interruptions." Kara suggested. "Jess, why don't we start with you?"

"Okay…Me and my friends were, like, going to class one day and then there was this loser that was always following us. Tall, brown hair, blue eyes…"

"Heh, sounds like you Kaiba!" Joey snickered.

"Shut the hell up Wheeler!" Kaiba hissed.

Jess continued, "His hair was bowl-cut actually, and he was like…ew… Then he had the nerve to ask one of us out and what did we do? Let's just say that it at one place where he'll never have any use for…"

"That was mean Jess!" Kara said.

"Well what did you expect? Me and my friends to ruin our reputation for Mr. Plain Joe? Popularity isn't easy to come by!"

"Rain puddles are deeper than you…" Kaiba glared as Kara sighed.

"Jess, how did you feel after what you and your friends did to him?"

"Well…"

"Did you feel good? Did you feel relieved? Did you feel happiness?"

"No…"

"Then how do you feel?"

"I don't know…maybe a bit of remorse?"

"That, my friend, is called bad karma. What goes around comes around and if there were witnesses, despite being as beautiful as you are, that guy may've been attractively-challenged, but they've never seen anyone uglier than you guys."

"So she crushed a boy's feelings! Big deal! We all know the whole 'The geek's gonna grow up and own his former tormentors' speech so give it a rest!"

Kara glared. "Okay Mr. Kaiba why don't we move on to you! And find out why are you such a complete insensitive jerk!"

Joey scoffed, "Good luck at that…"

Kaiba heard this and glared. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Like I said before, Kaiba's like Fort Knox: You won't get anything outta him!"

"Now Joey, let Kaiba talk!" Kara scolded.

"Alright." Joey shrugged. "The floor's yers Kara."

"Anyways Kaiba, why do you have all of this tension? It's not like someone's causing you any harm"

"_HE_ is my problem!" Kaiba pointed to Joey.

"Oh, and what did I do Kaiba?" Joey asked.

"Everything you do causes me stress! Just looking at your face gets me all riled up!"

"Is that so?"

"It is so!"

"There's only one person who's causing ya stress, and I'm lookin' at 'em!" Joey glared at Kaiba.

"Like you're a relief of fresh air!" Kaiba retorted. "All you've done is annoyed me!"

"Is this about the time I used you Blue Eyes against ya in a duel?"

"It's more than that you flea-bitten pest! You act like a big shot when you can't even back up your words 90 of the time!"

"Well you act like you have this huge chip on your shoulder and you're taking it out on everyone! So much that nobody likes you! And I emphasize on the word _nobody_! The only one that likes you is Mokuba!"

"You know what, I agree with Joey's statement about you Kaiba!" Kara stated.

"Wait a minute you're not supposed to be biased!" Kaiba complained.

"As a psychologist, I'm not. But as a person, let alone one who you were very rude too, I do feel resentment towards you! Or am I too much of a fake for you to take me seriously."

"Well you all would have a huge chip on my shoulder if you had a childhood like mine! A childhood that was filled with pain and agony." Kaiba snapped, not taking it anymore.

Kara blinked, "Pain?"

Kaiba nodded. "That's right! Wheeler know what I'm talking about, don't you?"

"Joey, is this true?" Kara asked.

Joey sighed, "Sorry Kaiba, I don't know what yer talking about."

"The hell you don't! You and the rest of the nerd herd were there! Remember? Noah? Gozaburo? Don't play dumb with me like you don't even know Wheeler!"

"But weren't you the one who told us all to forget about it?" Joey retorted. "I remember it quite perfectly you deliberately said 'Well that little detour was a complete waste of time! Let's pretend that it never happened.' Therefore, you told us to forget that you had a hard life and to believe that you're just a spoiled brat who thinks that the world revolves around him."

"Well now I take that back, okay?" Kaiba groaned in frustration, "Why am I even telling you people this anyway?"

"Because if you don't get your anger and stress treated, you'll be at risk of having Child Services coming over and take away Mokuba." Kara said.

"What? How did-"

"It's in the file. Remember, it was your principal that called."

"Remind me to have that bitch fired…" Kaiba muttered.

Kara overheard him. "What was that Kaiba?"

"I said that your preparedness is which made me inspired…to stay in this group!" Kaiba tried to cover up what he just said.

Kara nodded, "Okay…But at least we're making _some_ progress…so that's why you've been the way you are all these years?"

Kaiba sighed with a nod, knowing that it was best to just go along with it, as Joey somewhat felt sorry for him, but not much. He was a bit on the same boat but at least he did make an effort to change unlike him. Kaiba meanwhile tried to keep his true feelings hidden. He was like a balloon, and once it was tremendously filled up, explosion was more than likely to happen.

…

Tea, since then changed into a pair of jean shorts and a blue tank top, was in her room, collapsed on top of her full-size bed, as she closed her eyes. As much as she tried she couldn't get the thought out from her head: Joey, her Joey kissing that Half-Pint Arisa Mallovic, and God knows what else!

'Why her?' She thought. What did she have that Tea didn't? Long Blonde Hair? That was true. The longest Tea's brown locks have ever been were almost down to her shoulders. Another thing was that Arisa was short, while Tea was, as girls go, tall. She didn't know why that would make her attractive to him, as his last love, Mai, was just as tall, if not taller than her. But then again, guys do like girls who are shorter than them. Why? Because they want to be their 'protector,' or something like that. It all seemed admirable, but foolish. Didn't they think that girls could handle themselves?

Her bare feet smoothly drag through the ivory white comforter on her bed as Tea let out a sigh. There was nothing she could do about Joey and Arisa's love for each other. Should she just move on and find someone else, someone who would return her feelings? Or should she once again wait on the rebound like she did with Mai?

* * *

So it looks like there's a clink in Kaiba's icy cold mental armor. Who would've thought! Also, what does Arisa have in store for Tea and, consequentially, Yugi? Find out next chapter! Don't worry, I'll try to work more Kaiba/Kara as well.


	14. Joey and Arisa as Cupid?  Kaiba's Shock!

And now, the main twist will be revealed…sort of…

**LadySaturnGirl** – It is somewhat odd, but then again, maybe Tea had it cut for some reason. We may never know.

**Magicman/Smokegirl** – Don't worry, she won't. If Arisa's going to do anything to Tea, it'll be positive.

**Sanura-sama** – Yes, indeed that having a tough life can make one person bitter.

* * *

"So what's the plan?" Joey asked on the phone as he, dressed in a pair of red gym shorts and a white T-shirt, made sure he had his stuff ready for the school. "You really plan on hooking Tea up with Yuge?"

"You got it!" Arisa said on the other end as she was preparing for bed. She was dressed in green boxer shorts and a white oversized T-shirt. "Hey, Yugi likes Tea right?"

"Right?"

"And you want Tea to focus her love on someone else, right?"

"Right?"

"So it's perfect!" Arisa pulled the covers to her full-size bed back as she then slipped under them. "That way Yugi will finally express his feelings for Tea. And Tea won't be a threat to our relationship anymore!"

"That's good." Joey said as he too went under the covers. "I gotta go before Ma finds out, gets pissed, and takes the phone from my room."

Arisa giggled, "Sure, night Joey!"

"Nite Risa!"

Arisa placed the phone back on the hook as she then turned off the lamp. 'Tea my girl, after we get through with you, you'll never bother us again…'

…

The next day, Kaiba decided to arrive at school early for some unknown reason that he's wondering about himself. His optimistic conscience was probably to blame.

"Kaiba!"

Kaiba looked back just to see Kara, carrying her bag. "What do you want?"

"I just want to say that if you need to talk to anyone about anything, especially things that you can't say at the Y-" She stated.

"'I'll be there for you!' Look, I heard the same song and dance a million times and it never works!"

"It's really hard to open up, isn't it?"

"You have no idea…" Kaiba muttered as he walked away.

"Did your parents died when you were little?" Kara asked as the CEO then stopped. Where was she going with this!

"That's none of your business…" He sneered.

"My parents died, too…when I was only 12…" Kara took off her Millennium Cross and showed it to Kaiba. "This was the last thing my mother gave to me before she died. She said, 'Kara, as long as you hold this, I will always be there with you.'"

"Let me guess: Your mother was an archeologist in Egypt, right?" Kaiba smirked, now knowing where she was going with this.

"No, actually my dad was." Kara said. "He gave this necklace to my mother, who then passed it down to me. She said that my father wanted her to give it to me on my 16th birthday. But it wasn't meant to be…that's why I got it when I was 12."

"So your parents…past away at that time?" Kaiba asked.

"Yes…then there were the Wilsons who adopted me." Kara explained.

"So Debra isn't really your sister?"

"Yes…and no. She's my half sister."

"I see…" Kaiba said as they continued to talk for the next 15 minutes. Soon, they arrived at Kaiba's homeroom class. "I must go. I have to find out about my grade for the paper I wrote." He explained.

"Okay!" Kara smiled. "I'll be…seeing you around later?"

A slight smile formed on Kaiba's face. "We'll see…" He said as he walked into the classroom, then thought to himself. 'Why am I opening up to her? It's not like I actually like her right? …Right?" He sighed. "My conscience will never let me hear the end of it now…the annoying vermin he is…"

"I heard that!" Seto's child-like voice said behind Kaiba. Much to his frustration.

Kara watched the CEO enter the classroom as she smiled to herself. "Maybe Kaiba isn't the biggest prick in the world…" She said before she walked towards the direction of her homeroom class.

"Hey Yugi!"

Yugi turned around and saw the blonde couple. "Oh, hey guys!"

"I have a question I've been meanin' to ask ya Yuge." Joey explained, "How'd you feel about Tea?"

"Oh no…" Yugi sighed, knowing where they were going with this. He shouldn't known that it would be a matter of time before everyone knew about how he felt about Tea, even Tea herself. And now they were trying to get Tea together with him for a

"Come on Yugi, tell us!" Arisa placed an arm around Yugi's shoulders.

"Don't you guys have other things to do?" Yugi asked.

"Course not!" Joey answered, "What you need to do is to tell her yer feelin's. Otherwise it'll be too late."

"One, there's nothing wrong with the way I'm taking things! And two, I already know about how she feels about me! She sees me as a friend, nothing more! She likes you Joey!"

"Please don't remind me…" Arisa rolled her eyes.

Joey sighed, "I know already, she and Tristan both told me about it." He said as he then told Yugi the whole story.

"Poor Tea…" Yugi said, feeling sorry for her rejection. "But…for her sake, could you keep from being _that_ close?"

"What?" Arisa's eyes went wide. "But that's not-"

"I'm not saying that you should keep your relationship a secret. But don't just shove it in her face." Yugi stated, concerned for Tea's feelings.

"Alright Yuge, we'll just keep it to just holdin' hands and huggin'." Joey assured.

"Yeah…" Arisa nodded, but then smiled. "Say…how's about we all go out together! You and Tea, and Joey and me!"

"But what about Tristan?" Yugi reminded as Joey nervously chuckled.

"Well…heheh…about that…"

"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU STUPID SPIKE HEAD!" They all heard the loud booming voice of Tea as Tristan could be seen, running from Tea who happened to have a metal baseball bat in her hand.

"Thanks a lot you guys!" Tristan sneered at Joey and Arisa as Tea, a bit close, swung the bat at him. Fortunately he managed to duck and avoid being clocked.

Yugi looked at the blonde couple. "You told Tea?"

"Yeah…" Joey sighed. "But you've should've seen her yesterday!"

"Lil' Miss Peppy and Perky snapped!" Arisa added.

"Which was in a way your fault, by the way…" Joey reminded.

"Don't tell me you're on her side!" Arisa complained.

"I'm not on anyone's side." Joey sighed. "I just want this whole thing dealt with."

Arisa sighed. "Me too…"

Kaiba was at his desk as he saw his critique sheet on the table. Joey, Kaiba, and Yugi shared the same homeroom which was also their English class. With one look, he saw that the points he has received for his essay added up to be a 96! Kaiba was a bit startled. He had expected to get a 100, but it didn't matter. "At least I have the highest score in the class." He then looked at the desk in front of him. It was Joey's. He didn't know why, but he just had the idea to see just what Joey managed to get this time. "Probably a 63 or worse…know how much of an idiot he is…" He grabbed the paper off the desk as he then heard the sound of a voice being cleared behind him.

"Looking at another student's test result, are we Mr. Kaiba?" A female's voice said behind him as Kaiba looked back. She had shoulder-length red hair as she wore a blue business suit. Her arms were crossed as she had a seriously suspicious look on her face.

"I'm just curious. Seeing that Wheeler's scores are usually so low, it's a wonder how he's passing…" Kaiba said as he looked at the test anyway. Much to his shock, it was a 78. "Looks like Wheeler got lucky, as usual…"

The teacher sighed, "It's a shame really… Joey Wheeler is wasting so much potential."

Kaiba scoffed, "Potential for what? To be a dropout and end up on the streets making a living in street fights for money run by a shady character who practically owns the city? With his inferior mind, I wouldn't be surprised."

"On the contrary Mr. Kaiba, you'd be surprised indeed about Mr. Wheeler." She said as she sat down in her desk, placing her bag on the desk's surface.

"Like what?"

"Like Joey could've made a higher grade than a 78 if he wanted too."

"Hah, Like what?"

"A 98!"

Kaiba eyes went wide! "You're kidding right?"

* * *

Who would've thought? Joey Wheeler, actually somewhat of a genius? Well, in this story he is. Don't like, too bad! Anyway, that was only part of the twist. Also, what do Joey and Arisa have in store for Tea and Yugi? Find out in next chapter.

Also a note: The yet-to-be-started "The Joe(y) Schmo Show!" will be put on hold. The reason is that it just came to my attention that script format is not allowed on Fan I'm thinking about making the story exclusive to Media , but then again maybe I could possibly do so in normal formatting. Also, "Spira's Tournament" will be on hold, too. The reason why is because of writer's block on that subject. I already have the plot in mind. The problem is how to build up to it. I'm also going to start another new story to make it up for the lack of both of them which will also be featured at Media :

**Vendetta: **

After being betrayed for the last time, Joey says "to hell with it" and leaves Domino. Two years have passed as Yugi and co. finally gets a lead to where he is: New York City. Based on EA Sports' Def Jam Vendetta and the upcoming Def Jam: Fight for New York.

Speaking of Media This story will be posted there, and also, to make it up for not posting the damn story there when I started it in the first place, will have an exclusive chapter (Guilty conscience, I know.). It'll be mostly filler, with nothing major that affects the story. Probably will be just Joey/Arisa fluff.


	15. Joey The Liar?

Okay boys and girls, it's that time again! No, it's not the "Wheel of Morality" (Owned by WB). It's the next chapter to A Different Beat. This chapter maybe short, but I'll make it up in the next chapter. If not, then the chapter afterwards.

**Magicman/Smokegirl** – Does Tea get Tristan? Well…find out!

**Sanura-sama** – Yeah. At least in this story he is. Hey, if Joey supposedly is dumb, how does he keep advancing to the next grade?

* * *

"So let me get this straight: You're telling me that Joey Wheeler, as in the blonde street kid who always looking for a fight Joey Wheeler is actually a straight-A student?" Kaiba asked, still in shock and disbelief. 

"Has the potential, actually…" The teacher corrected. "If only he would apply himself a bit more, he could be a straight A-student."

A smirk suddenly came to Kaiba's face. "How much is Wheeler paying you to say that?" He knew that Joey couldn't possibly have enough money to bribe teachers into giving him good enough marks. But then again there was the prize money from Duelist Kingdom left over from his sister's eye surgery he could've used. "Just admit it: Everyone knows that Joey Wheeler couldn't pass a test if his life depended on it so why cover for him."

She just sighed. "You're right Mr. Kaiba, he has been bribing me. As well as the rest of his teachers save for his Foods instructor and P.E. teacher."

Kaiba's smirk grew wider. "I knew it…"

"But it's quite the opposite."

"Leave it to a low-class dog to try to bribe a teacher with his bo-What?" Kaiba blinked when the last part of the teacher's statement registered into his brain. "You mean to tell me he bribes you to fail him?"

"Yes… at first when Joey was beginning to improve dramatically, but then his grades went down again. I was taken by surprised, but then, at last month's test Joey was the first one finished with the test. So I put two and two together and then it hit me: Joey was flunking the test on purpose!"

"Do you expect me to believe that?" Kaiba roared. "What kind of idiot do you take me for? What kind of idiot would deliberately fail the test on-" Kaiba stopped, "Don't answer that…"

"May I suggest that you ask Mr. Wheeler about it if you must know?"

"Hah… Knowing him he'll just deny it."

Kaiba growled as he glared at the paper which was on his enemy's desk. "Do you have his real average for this class?"

"Of course…" The teacher took out her grade book. "Despite his requests, I've kept on file his real grades from test, quizzes. And he managed to really do the assignments as my only request."

Kaiba glared. "What is Wheeler's average?"

"Let's see…" The teacher skimmed through the book as she finally found the page she was looking for. "Oh yes…his average in this class would be 96."

"A 96!?" Kaiba exclaimed in shock. "That's almost as high as my average!"

Joey, having just dropped Arisa off at her homeroom, was heading towards his homeroom as then, from the janitor's closet, a pair of hands yanked him inside.

"The hell!?" Joey soon found himself shoved onto a wall as he looked into the glaring eyes of his best friend.

"I'm gonna kill you, and then kill you again! AND AGAIN AND AGAIN!" Tristan shouted as he shook his startled blonde.

"Tristan, Tristan, Tristan-"

"DON'T YOU TRIPLE TRISTAN ME, WHEELER!" He snapped. "Thanks to you, I have Tea going homicidal on me wanting to pull a Barry Bonds by knocking my head out of the ballpark! What part of 'promise not to tell' did you not understand!?"

"I had no choice, genius!" Joey snapped back. "Yesterday Tea went out of control and attack Arisa, then I had to take her outside from the group and-"

"You guys took Tea with you?"

"Look, I didn't have much of a choice! She was literally stuck to me!"

"How was she stuck to you?"

"Use yer imagination!"

"That doesn't matter. What matters now is that Tea's after my head and it's all your fault!"

"Look Tristan. We'll deal with this later. We're almost late for class!"

"Fine, but this isn't over, Joey! Not by a long shot!" Tristan hissed.

School ended as Kaiba walked out from his last class, but he had a sour puss look on his face. He had made it a point to go see Joey's teachers to see if he's been purposely flunking in their classes too. Much to his dismay, the results were the same as their homeroom teacher: He's been paying them off to flunk him as well.

"What else has Wheeler been hiding…?" He pondered as he then saw the person in question:

Joey was alone at his locker. Since he didn't have any homework, he decided to place all of his books in the locker save for a few that he'll need for tomorrow. Arisa managed to somehow get herself a detention so he was going to talk to the gang and see if they could wait for her detention to be over.

As Joey was about the close the door, the door apparently had closed…more like slammed itself shut which startled Joey, who wondered how could've happened. However, his question would be answered…

"WHEELER!"

Joey turned around as he then, after seeing the source of the shout, sighed. "What do you want now, Kaiba?"

"You know what this is about!" Kaiba yelled at the blonde. "I couldn't believe it until I saw the proof, and you had the audacity to pull it off as if no one would find out, liar!"

"Eh?" Joey raised an eyebrow out of curiosity, which just made Kaiba even angrier.

"Don't play dumb with me! Or should I say as long as you have already!"

"Where ya going with this?"

Kaiba opened his briefcase as he then shoved a piece of paper in his face! "Do these look familiar to you, Wheeler?" On the paper were Joey's grades. Not the grades he got on his report cards, but the grades they put on the computer. As expected they were mostly 90s and 85s. The lowest score displayed was an 82, in science.

"Umm…"

"Playing dumb all these years, when all this time you actually had a brain in there!"

"So…what's it to you?" Joey shrugged.

"Does anyone know about your secret?"

"Nope…"

"Not even your sister?"

"Nope…"

"Who does know? Let me guess, Mallovic?"

"She knew that I was flunking my tests on purpose when she saw me write down an answer that was obviously wrong." Joey explained as he looked down at his watch. "Speaking of Arisa, I have to go meet her." He said as he tried to leave, but then felt a yank on the collar of his jacket.

"The hell you are!" Kaiba held on to the jacket, not wanting Joey to leave just yet. "I want to know what else you've been faking. We already know you're smart, so you must have more sense than you've shown us. You also can say words longer than four let-"

"I've been saying words longer than-"

"And you're probably…" Kaiba began to seethe, "Oh hell no…no way…" His glare became worse. "No way…no fucking way…you are, aren't you?"

"Aren't what, Kaiba?" Joey asked innocently.

"DON'T PLAY GAMES WITH ME, YOU LYING DOG! ALL THIS TIME YOU'VE BEEN BULLSHITTING EVERYONE!" Kaiba screamed. "I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU WHEELER!"

"I like to chat, but I gotta go! Laters!" Joey smiled as he began to walk away.

"DON'T YOU DARE WALK AWAY FROM ME!" Kaiba was about to walk away, but was stopped by a smaller hand.

"What's wrong, Kaiba?" Yugi asked as he, along with Tristan, Tea, and Bakura, looked at Kaiba with a mixture of shock and curiosity at his actions.

"What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG!? I'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S WRONG!?" Kaiba screamed at the gang as he then gave the paper with Joey's grades to Yugi. "Take a look at what your so-called friend Joey the Liar has been keeping from you!"

Yugi and the gang looked at the grades as then, his eyes went wide.

"Joey has As and Bs!?" Tea exclaimed. "That's not what was on his report card."

"Yeah! Usually Joey hardly does well enough to get a C." Yugi reminded.

"The reason why Wheeler is barely able to get a C is because he pays the teachers to under rank him!"

Tristan blinked, "You're kidding, right!?"

"I don't kid…" Kaiba glared.

"Well who else know-" Tea stopped as she then narrowed her eyes. "Let me guess, starts with an A and rhymes with 'Visa,' right?" She asked, annoyed.

Kaiba walked away. "You geeks can handle it. I have better things to do."

After Kaiba was gone, Yugi sighed. "How could this pass us like that? I mean, we're always together, right?"

"Oh Yugi! Ever since Joey's being going to this so-called group, he's changed. Changed to the point where we don't even know him anymore." Tea declared. "First he starts going to these meetings without even telling us about it! Then he starts to date Miss H.R. Short 'n stuff! Even though he should've gone out with someone who knew him longer, who's been there for him since the day-"

"Umm…Tea?"

"Huh?" Tea stopped her ranting and looked at Yugi and Tristan who were giving her confused glances. "Eheheh…sorry…"

"So let's head for detention. I have a few words I like to say to him!" Tristan began to walk towards the classroom where Detention was being held, but was pulled back by Yugi.

"Let's be calm about this!" Yugi advised. "There is a logical explanation for this!"

"What? That we've been hanging around a genius who pretended to be an idiot all this time? If there is an explanation, I'll get it out of him…one way or another…" Tristan continued his march towards the room with Yugi and Tea following behind.

* * *

So Joey is going to detention to wait for Arisa, as Yugi and co go to confront Joey about his "secret." What will happen? Find out next chapter! 


	16. I don't want to be the best!

Okay, I'm really sorry that I've taken…like forever to get this chapter done. But I've just been busy!

**cherry-star-aus** – Don't worry, Kaiba'll be more aggressive, as he'll probably have another reason to hate Joey.

**Magicman/Smokegirl** – Good point. Although, I think they (the writers) have him act dumb for comedic value. Sort of like Eric Mathews becoming an idiot at the start of Season 3 (Or 4. I'm not too sure.) of "Boy Meets World."

**Sanura-sama** – What secrets Joey's hiding? You'll find out some. Next chapter, all of his secrets will come out.

**Ssp** – I know now. I wanted to make Joey somewhat of a genius, but not a total brainiac. I was originally going to have his grades be around 100, and his laziness being because he felt that he wasn't being challenged enough in class. But the path for our blonde friend has already been set.

* * *

Joey looked down at his watch as it indicated that it was now four. Who cares if they were late! They always stuck together. Arisa waited for him when he had detention, so now he'll wait for her. In his opinion, Arisa shouldn't have gotten detention in the first place. It wasn't her fault Mr. Tranor was so boring that she fell asleep.

"Come on, it can't be longer than this…" Joey sighed as he began to grow impatient. Suddenly, the door opened as the students who had detention began to exit. To a big burly red head boy who probably got in trouble for fighting, to a skinny, preppy brunette who got into trouble for her disrespect to the teachers, a fair amount of people were leaving. However, there was one person who he was waiting for"

"Joey!"

The owner of the voice was definitely not that person as Joey look back. He saw his friends, Yugi, Tristan, and Tea. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"You tell us!" Tristan said as he, along with Yugi and Tea, had a serious look on his face.

"Tell ya what?"

"Don't play dumb! We know about your grades!" Tea informed.

Joey sighed, "I knew you guys would find out…"

"You're damn right!" Tristan replied. "How could you keep it from us like that?"

"Look, I know that I'm pressing my luck with my grades, I'll just cram for it and-"

"You can cut the act Joey!" Yugi said.

"What?" Joey blinked.

"We know about your grades."

"I know that…"

"Your _real_ grades." Tea clarified.

"Oh…" Joey sighed. "Let me guess: Kaiba told ya."

"You damn right he did! How could you keep them from us, Man! I thought we were friends!" Tristan protested.

"Of course we're friends!"

"Friends don't keep secrets, but you've been doing a lot of that lately!" Tea said sternly.

"So I kept my good grades a secret! What's the big deal?" Joey asked.

"The 'Big Deal' is that you kept all of us worried about you! Wondering if you were ever going to pass since we knew…or at least thought that you weren't exactly a straight-A student!" Tea said. "And the worse of all, you told Arisa and not us: People who've been friends, friends who've been through thick and thin together since-"

"How did I know she had something to do with you being angry Tea?" Joey asked sarcastically, annoyed with Tea's attitude. "For your information, she saw me placing down BS answers on one of my tests. I had to tell her to get her to shut up!"

"And you couldn't have told us!"

"Hey, it's not like she isn't the only one that knows." Joey protested.

"So you rather told Arisa instead of Serenity?" Tea asked coolly.

"Why do you have to bring Serenity into this?"

Arisa, who had just walked out from the classroom, blinked at what he just saw. "Umm…is this a bad time?" She asked, which Tea responded with a growl at the Blonde. She was sick and tired of Arisa being wherever Joey was, and if it wasn't for the fact that she didn't want to soil her school uniform-again, she would've jumped at the blonde and yanked her hair out.

Frustrated, Joey reached into his bag as he pulled out a piece of paper. "Look, if you want to know why I've been keepin' my intelligence a big secret, just read this, okay?"

Yugi took the paper and looked at it. It was his essay that he wrote in class on the one person who has greatly influenced his life. "Joey what does this have anything to-!"

"Just read it…" Joey said as he and Arisa then walked off, with her looking at him.

"What's going on Joey?" She asked.

"Yuge and the gang are gonna find out the truth about me." Joey said.

"So that paper…"

"Yep, it's my essay." Joey simply said. "I think that it's best that they just find out now, ask questions later. Besides, that's nothing compared to what I'm gonna have to deal with when I get home…"

"You should've told at least Serenity!" Arisa slightly scolds.

"I know, but it's next to impossible for her to keep a secret. She even eavesdrops on me sometimes. Serenity's basically a blabbermouth."

Arisa giggled as they walked away, leaving the trio to read Joey's paper. After reading the heading, they blinked.

"'I don't want to be the best?' What kind of idiot doesn't want to be the best!?" Tristan exclaimed, finding it odd that someone would write about that.

"Oh shut up Tristan. Maybe this essay will explain it…" Tea said as they continued to read. But soon their eyes went wide after they read this:

_A lot of people can have an impact on a person's life. Parents, siblings, friends, just to name a few for some people. For other people like me, that person can turn out to be the most unlikely of people. Even those who you would never guessed to actually be an influence in your life. There is one person who fits this. That one person is Seto Kaiba._

"YOU'RE KIDDING, RIGHT!? KAIBA!?" Tristan exclaimed.

"What does he have to do with this?" Tea asked as Yugi continued reading.

_Kaiba__ was so much of a big influence to me he is the reason why I do not want to be the best! Because if I did strive to be the best, I'd end up like him: A spiteful, cold hearted person who doesn't care about anybody but himself, or being number one!_

"So that's his excuse? He doesn't want to be like Kaiba? That's why he's been keeping this secret from us?" Tea asked, a bit peeved.

"I understand why he wouldn't want to be the best." Yugi sighed. "It can corrupt a person in the cruelest ways, as being the best soon becomes an obsession. And obsession Kaiba has now…"

Tea and Tristan nodded in agreement. "But still, that doesn't excuse Joey for keeping his secrets!" Tea reminded.

"We'll have to have a long talk with Joey." Yugi nodded. "Let's read the rest of it. Maybe we'll find out more reasons why he doesn't want to be the best."

"Good thing Serenity doesn't get home until late…" Joey sighed as he fixed the collar on his jean jacket.

"You're gonna have to come clean with her some time." Arisa reminded as she took off her unbuttoned green plaid, long-sleeved shirt, revealing a black "Parental Advisory" tank top. "Her and your mom…"

"That should be fun." Joey sarcastically said as they stepped inside of the YMCA building. Which at that point they saw Debra.

"Hey guys!" She greeted them.

"Yo!" Joey waved at her.

"What's going on?" Arisa asked.

"Nothing really…" the redhead admitted. "But you guys on the other hand appear to be going on a field trip."

"Field trip!?" The blonde couple blinked.

Debra nodded, "Just been planned at the last minute. Although you'll be pretty much surprised when you find out who's idea it was…"

"Why? Do you know something we don't?" Joey asked as Debra just made a zipper motion on her lips. Indicating that she wasn't going to tell them…

"Looks like we're on our own…" Arisa said.

"Whatever…" Joey shrugged as the two walked into the room. It appeared that Delia was back as she was standing with Jess and Jackson.

"Hey Delia, welcome back!" Joey greeted the older woman.

"What's up with this field trip we're hearing about?" Arisa asked.

"Haven't you heard?" Jess asked, "We're going to the Kaiba Land dueling arena!"

"Kaiba Land?" The Blondes exclaimed in unison. "For what?" Joey asked. "What's the point of going there?"

"SO they can see how good of a duelist you really are!" Kaiba hissed from behind the couple, startling them.

"Don't freak us out like that!" Arisa hissed.

"Hmph, like I care about your opinions! What matters now is that we get to my dueling arena." Kaiba demanded. "But first, we're going to stop at Wheeler's house first!"

Joey blinked, "My house? For what?"

"You know damn well why we're stopping there: To get your deck. Your _real_ deck!"

"Where yer getting at Kaiba?"

"As much as I hate to admit that you're actually a good duelist, if you were lying about your grades, how do I know that you're not lying about your dueling skills?" Kaiba glared at the blonde duelist. "Now let's go! My limo will take us!"

"Mmm…I never rode in a limo before…" Jess smiled as she imagined herself riding around Domino in style.

"Don't get used to it." Kaiba sneered at the pink-haired girl. He was only actually going through with this so that he had witnesses to prove that Joey Wheeler was indeed a big fat liar. He still believed that Wheeler had no chance of beating him, but he didn't want to win against someone who basically lost on purpose. How would it make him look? People would start wondering "What if Joey played for real, would he have won Duelist Kingdom? Would he have won Battle City?" He didn't know what was up with Joey Wheeler, but he intended to find out!

* * *

Yes, I know that it took me forever to get this chapter done. But college life isn't exactly a cakewalk you know. I'll try harder to get this story updated, as well as my other stories, as well as (finally) start "Spira's Tournament." Y'all know the drill! Review now! 


	17. The Duel!

Finally…I've finally got up from my lazy ass and completed this chapter to this story! I know it took forever to rewrite the lost chapter, but I finally got it done! Also, I've already have an idea on what direction I'm gonna take with this story.

**MagicmanSmokegirl** –Yeah, that was the biggest mistake he'll make. Looks like we're now gonna have to wait and see…

**Sanura-sama** – I'm thinking about adding more twists, but I believe that it'd be an overkill.

**meluvugi**– Don't worry, I'm not going to give up on this story. I worked too hard to try to regain the chapter that was lost to stop now.

**Angel-Belle** – It'll just keep getting even more and more interesting.

**Neshia** – I had to find a magazine, which at first glance, appeared to be "unsuitable" reading material at first glance, but turn out to be the opposite. "Lowrider" was the only thing that came to mind. I know about the denial stuff. It's just a joke people use sometimes since "the Nile" sounds very similar to "denial."

**LadySaturnGirl** – S'alright! I had to replace my hard drive not too long ago so I understand. Good thing I knew what I was going to write for my school essays.

* * *

**Chapter 17: **The Duel! 

Yugi, Tristan, and Tea ran out from the Kame Game Shop as fast as they could, having received the message Kaiba gave to his Grandpa. Their destination was obvious: The Kaiba Land Dueling Arena.

"Joey's Dueling Kaiba? Again?" Tea asked, somewhat skeptical.

"Yeah. From what Kaiba said in his message this may be the first real _duel_ they'll have. Wouldn't surprised from what we've learned about Joey today!"

"Not really!" Yugi admitted. "Joey probably just added some new cards to his old deck! It can't be as if Joey has two decks labeled 'serious' and 'false.'"

"Yugi, if Joey can lie about his grades, how can he not lie about his Dueling Skills!" Tea scolded, then sighed. "We are going to have a _long_ talk with him after this…"

Joey sighed as he stood on the rising dueling platform. He wondered why was he here in the first place. Weren't there supposed to be a meeting today? But it seems that the meeting would take place here at the Kaiba Land Dueling Arena. The reason why was because of Kaiba wanting to duel him. But wasn't it always the other way around? He had to go home to get his deck first…his real deck, and Kaiba made sure of that. As far as the CEO was concerned, if Joey was bullshitting about his schoolwork, he was probably bullshitting about his dueling skills too!

Joey shuffled his deck as he looked around. In front of him was a guy from school, who also happened to be his sworn enemy. And in the bleachers were the people from his group meetings: His girlfriend for about a week now, the licensed Psychiatrist who happened to run the meetings, a guy who was home-schooled and a girl who went to a private school outside Domino. His friends weren't around…probably after all of this, he doubt that they'd still want to be friends with him…

"Let's get this over with…" He sighed as he drew his five cards, knowing all to well the consequences: If Kaiba won, he'd never let anyone hear the end of it. But if Kaiba lost…he'd never let anyone hear the end of it.

Kaiba drew his five cards. He didn't know what to expect from his enemy, but he wasn't going to take any chances. For all he knew, his could be using the same deck! That Gamble deck he's been known to use… "Okay Wheeler, you make the first move!" He demanded. 'Let's see what he'll do…'

"Okay…" Joey drew a card. "Okay, I'll start by playing Alligator Sword 1500/1200 in attack mode and end my turn!" On the field, the Sword Wielding Lizard was ready to attack.

Kaiba drew his card. "I play Vorse Raider 1900/1200 in attack mode and place one card facedown!" He grinned. "Vorse Raider, attack his Alligator Sword!" The dark beast warrior attacked the gator and destroyed it, knocking out a bit of Joey's Life Points.

Joey: 7600  
Kaiba: 8000

The CEO smirked, "If that's your real deck you're using, this duel will be much easier then I thought!"

"Keep believin' that, Kaiba!" Joey shrugged it off as he drew a card. "I'll place two Spells facedown and play Ultimate Baseball Kid 500/1500 in attack mode!" He announced as followed by two facedown cards, a young boy in a baseball uniform carrying a bat stood up to bat. "I end my turn.

"Hah!" Kaiba sneered as he drew a card. "Typical amateur move, Wheeler! First, I'll place two cards facedown, then end my turn!" Kaiba let out a grin, as he knew that Joey was too much of a mediocre duelist to see through this strategy. All he needed to do was to summon his stronger monsters and attack and he'll be screwed by his Crush Card/Shrink combination.

Joey blinked. 'Kaiba could've attacked my Ultimate Baseball kid. Wait…he's up to something…' Joey decided to humor the CEO as he drew his card. "I'll play Masked Dragon (1400/1100) in attack mode!" Joey announced as the Fire Attribute dragon monster appeared on the field. And Ultimate Baseball Kid's special ability allows this kid to get 1000 Attack Points for every Fire Attribute Monster on the field, raising its attack up to 1500! But…"

Kaiba glared. "But what?"

"I'm going to attack anyway and hope that yer monster be scared enough to faint on its own." Joey shrugged. "Masked Dragon, attack Kaiba's Vorse Raider!"

"YOU 3RD RATE AMATEUR!" Kaiba screamed at the blonde as Vorse Raider destroyed Masked Dragon as Joey's life points dropped. "MY VORSE RAIDER HAS 500 ATTACK POINTS HIGHER THAN YOUR MASKED DRAGON YOU IDIOT!"

Joey: 7100  
Kaiba: 8000

Joey smiled, "Now I activate Masked Dragon's Special ability by drawing one monster with an Attack no higher than 1500. And I chose this lil' guy: Red Eyes Black Chick (800/500).

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "You did all that to summon an even weaker monster Wheeler?"

"Keep yer trench coat on, Gambit!" Joey said as the baby version of Red Eyes Black Dragon appeared on the field. "Now I'll activate his Special Ability! I'll sacrifice Red Eyes Black Chick to Special Summon the adult Red Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000)!" He smirked as the Red Eyes Black Chick broke out of the shell as it grew up to be the more powerful Red Eyes Black Dragon! "Now Red Eyes, destroy Kaiba's Vorse Raider with Inferno Fire Blast!" Joey ordered as Red Eyes was about to fire.

"Ha, I don't think so!" Kaiba smirked. "Activate Face Down Cards: Shrink, which I'll use on my Vorse Raider to cut his attack points in half! (650). And now I'll activate my Crush Card Vir-"

"Kaiba, that was the same strategy you used both against Ishizu and me back at Battle City, remember? I came prepared! That's why I activate my _trap_ card!"

"What?" Kaiba blinked. "But you said-"

"Spell, I know. It's called Bluffing, or in layman's terms, Bullshittin'! I activate my Trap Card Trap Jammer!" He informed as he discarded a card, "Say goodbye to your Crush Card!"

Kaiba scoffed, "Not even a fool can catch a cold." He said as he watched Joey's Red Eyes destroy his Vorse Raider…

Joey: 7100  
Kaiba: 6250

"Now it's time for my Baseball Kid to get in on the action! So go on and attack!" Joey ordered as the Kid ran over on the field and swung his bat hard at Kaiba, knocking down more of his Life Points...

Joey: 7100  
Kaiba: 5750

The blonde smirked, "Who's the idiot, now? I end my turn by placing one card facedown" Joey said. "Your turn Kaiba!"

Kaiba drew a card as he grinned. "Duel's over, Wheeler! First, I'll play Pot of Greed, allowing me to draw 2 cards!" Kaiba announced as he drew two cards from his deck. "Next, I'll play Polymerization which I'll use to fuse the three monsters I have in my hand, my three Blue Eyes, to form my ultimate beast: Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon! (4500/3800)" He announced as his Three Blue Eyes appeared on the field before going to merge together into the ultimate creature.

Joey looked directly at the three heads of the Ultimate Dragon. "…I think I'm in trouble…"

"No shit, Sherlock!" Jackson shouted. "Look at how many attack point he has compared to your Baseball kid. "It has, like what, 500 Life Points?"

Joey ignored Jackson's protest as he stared right into the face…er…faces of the Dragon. He had to admit that it was pretty damn intimidating. After all, they wouldn't call it the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon for nothing! 'So this is what Yuge must've felt back at Duelist Kingdom…'

"Now, my great beast, attack his Ultimate Baseball Kid with Neutron Blast!" Kaiba ordered as the Ultimate Blue Eyes unleashed its blast on the poor Baseball Kid!

"Activate Facedown Cards!" Joey announced as his facedown cards were revealed. "First, I'll play my other Trap Card that I placed on the field earlier: DNA Transplant, which'll allow me to change the attribute of every monster on the field to any one I choose, and I choose to change 'em into Fire Types!" Joey declared as an aura of fire appeared around both Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon and Red Eyes Black Dragon.

"Now this is where Ultimate Baseball Kid's special ability comes into play." Joey continued. "Excluding himself, he gets 1000 Attack Points for every Fire-Attribute Monster on the field."

"So what? All that does is raise his attack to 2500!"

"Who said that I was done? That's why I activate my last facedown card, Scapegoat!" He announced as four different colored small goats appeared on the field. "They become fire attribute monsters, too! That means more power for my Baseball Kid, now raising his attack power to 6500!"

Kaiba blinked. "That means that little brat's now strong enough to destroy my Ultimate Dragon!"

"Exactly!" Joey grinned. "Ultimate Baseball Kid, Hit a homer on Kaiba's Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" He ordered as the Baseball Kid deflected the attack with his bat as he now proceeded to hit a home run on Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

Joey: 7100  
Kaiba: 3750

'This is impossible! A few months ago he couldn't even beat Tea, and now he's already knocked over half of my Life Points down while he's only lost 900?' Kaiba was in major shock. Perhaps Wheeler had been lying about his deck. And if there was anything he could not stand, it was a goddamn liar! The good thing about this is that Ultimate Baseball Kid's attack power dropped to 5500!

"Are you done?" Joey asked.

"I was wrong about you Wheeler! You're not only a Third Rate Duelist, but you're also a Liar!" Kaiba roared! "You planned this all along! You wanted me to think that your deck was pathetic! You wanted me to think that all you had in your deck were Gamble Cards! Well that's the last straw! You're going to rue the day you ever built a deck!" Kaiba grabbed a card from his hand. "I now remove my Vorse Raider and one of my Blue Eyes White Dragons from my graveyard so I can summon Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End (3000/3000) in attack mode! He announced as the Dark Chaos Dragon was summoned onto the field!"

"Kaiba…my Ultimate Baseball Kid has way more attack points, and you summoning that monster just keeps him at 6500! You were better off with 5500!" Joey reminded.

"That brat won't be on the field any longer, as now I activate my Emperor Dragon's special ability!" Kaiba announced. "At the cost of 1000 Life Points, every card on the field and in our hands will go to the graveyard!" Kaiba's Life Points began to drop…

Joey: 7100  
Kaiba: 2750

"Okay, now we don't have anything." Joey shrugged as he gathered the cards that were on his side of the field and place them with the cards that were in his hand.

"For someone who somehow has the grades that you do, you're proving to be an even bigger idiot than usual!" Kaiba continued. "Now you'll lose 300 Life Points for every card that goes to the graveyard."

"Okay…" Joey began to count the cards he gathered. His DNA Transplant, Red Eyes, and Baseball Kid were three cards he had on the field. Add Kaiba's Chaos Emperor Dragon and the one card that was in his hand and that would be 5! "…Multiply that by 300 and-" He blinked, "I'm gonna lose 1500 Life Points!"

Kaiba smirked, "You're not so dumb after all!" He taunted as the cards were being placed into their respective graveyards, and Joey began to lose Life Points…

Joey: 5600  
Kaiba: 2750

"Since I can't do anything else, I end my turn!" Kaiba informed as Joey drew a card.

"You made a bad move using your dragon's effect!" Joey informed as he looked at his cards. However, when he saw what he drew, he freaked out! 'Shield and Sword? I can't use this!' He sighed, "I'll just end my turn!"

"I'll take it that you couldn't draw the card you need." Kaiba went to draw a card, but stopped. What if that was what Wheeler wanted him to believe? Just like his spell cards facedown were really trap cards! Then he summoned his monster and then when he least expected it, he plays some quick play Spell card and screws him over! He smirked, "Nice try Wheeler! But I'm not falling for your lies again! So I'll end my turn without making a move."

Joey sighed, as it was his turn to draw. 'Okay…OH GOD NOT AGAIN!' This time the card he drew was Polymerization. He sighed, "I'll end my turn without making a move!"

Kaiba drew a card as he looked down as a smile came to his face. 'Monster Reborn. Perfect to crush that lying hack!' And evil smirk came to his face as a plan was placed into motion. Kaiba would just wait until Joey finally decided to summon his monsters. Then, he would bring back his Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon and crush him! "Let's see, am I going to play a card? No, I think I'll end my turn!"

Joey drew another card as he sighed. "It's just not my day as I'm not going to make a move this turn! You go!"

"I know your plan Wheeler, you want me to summon a monster so you can do some hocus pocus crap and remove it!" Kaiba drew a card. "So thanks, but no thanks!"

Bored, Jess got up from the stands. "I'm, like, so gone! I have a million things to do and watching a boring duel where neither one of them is not making any moves is not on my list!"

'At least Kaiba thinks I'm lying again!' He mused as he drew a card. 'This could be at least useful…' "I'll place one trap card facedown and end my turn!"

"You think that I'm falling for that nonsense again?" Kaiba laughed. "You really are pathetic if you actually believe that one-trick pony will work twice!" Kaiba drew a card. "Since I know that you have some monsters in your hand and are trying to lose this duel on purpose, I figured that I should be a humanitarian and help you fulfill your wish!"

"Careful Kaiba, I have a trap card!" Joey warned!

"I told you that same bullshit your fed me last time won't work, Wheeler!" Kaiba was unmoved as he placed his Monster Reborn card on the field! "I play Monster Reborn, to bring back my Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

"Are you sure you want to do that? I'm trying to warn you, Kaiba! I have a trap card on the field waiting for you!"

"Hmph, watch me!" Kaiba sneered as through Monster Reborn's effect, Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon was brought back onto the field! "I know that your 'Trap Card' was just more of your bullshit! You are all about bullshit Wheeler! First you bullshit about your grades! Then you bullshit about your Dueling Skills! You bullshit about the kind of monsters you have in your deck! Now you're bullshitting about not having any monsters in your hand and basically trying to lose on purpose for some reason! Everything about you bullshit! You're a disgrace to the game, this country, and humanity in general, Wheeler!"

Joey sighed as he showed him the three cards that were in his hand. In addition to Shield and Sword and Polymerization, Inferno Fire Blast was present in his hand!

Kaiba scoffed, "That's the most honest thing you've said so far, but that doesn't change anything about the fact that you're nothing but a complete Liar! And I bet that that so called 'Trap Card' you have on the field facedown is just another one of your lies!" He turned to his dragon! "Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon…"

"I'm warning you Kaiba…"

"Attack this lying chump and take out his life points!"

"You shouldn't do this, trust me!"

"Neutron Blast!" Kaiba ordered as The Ultimate Dragon fired its blast at the Blonde liar…or was he a liar? The mirror-like barrier that appeared in front of him answered that question.

"I warned ya Kaiba! You activated my Mirror Force trap card!"

Kaiba blinked, "What?"

"I told ya I had a trap card! But did ya listen? No! And now, your Ultimate Dragon's going on a permanent vacation back to the graveyard!"

Kaiba seethed as he saw the now-reflected Neutron Blast destroyed his Ultimate Dragon! Wheeler had tricked him again, and he wasn't even lying this time! "Damn you…Damn you Wheeler…"

"Hey, it could've been worse! I could've used your Blue Eyes against ya again, if I had Monster Reborn in my hand." Joey explained as he then heard the sound of Kaiba's dueling platform going downward. "Hey Kaiba, where ya goin'? Oh, it's like that, huh? Yer gonna take yer ball an' go home? You don' wanna play anymore?"

"I refuse to duel someone who is a complete liar!" Kaiba informed.

"Oh come on, Kaiba! It's not like I cheated by having my cards slide out of my wristband or threatening suicide so I can win the duel! So I bluffed a few times! I did used to play poker back in the day!" Joey shrugged. "Hey, when you beat me twice, did I cry, did I placed my tail between my legs and run?"

He just glared. "At least I never lied! Unlike you!"

Joey sighed. "Fine…I'll tell ya what, we'll restart the duel, and I'll stop-"

"NO!"

Joey blinked at Kaiba's response. "I'm serious, we can-"

Kaiba cut him off. "Do you think that I can't beat you? Let me remind you something Wheeler: I'm the World Champion of Duel Monsters…former World Champion, but that's not the point! Have you ever beaten me once at all? Let me answer that for you! You haven't, and you'll never will! The only reason you've got this far was because I was foolish enough to believe your little mind games! That ends now!"

Joey smiled as the duel platform rose, "That's the Kaiba I know!"

The door then opened, only to find Yugi, Tristan, and Tea outside. Much to Joey's chagrin… "Oh lord…" He already knew that it has already hit the fan, and they were not at all happy with him.

"Take a seat, guys!" Arisa offered from the stands. "We're watching a sweet duel! Joey's kicking Kaiba's ass!"

Yugi, Tristan, and Tea looked over at the duelists on the dueling platform. Much to Tea and Tristan's shock, Joey had 5600 Life Points while Kaiba had 2750. It wouldn't have been such a shock if it were the other way around.

"Joey's beating Kaiba?" Tea asked, skeptical!

"I knew that he came close at Battle City, but not by this much!" Tristan blinked.

Yugi was not at all shocked. After Battle City, he and Joey had a duel early in the morning before school! During that duel, Yugi saw a few cards the he never expect Joey to have, let alone those that were rare! For example, he had never expected him to take control of his Dark Magician and turn him into Dark Magician Knight and wipe out his Dark Magician Girl. And he could've sworn he saw Horus the Black Flame Dragon Lvl. 8 in his hand. Nevertheless, Kaiba should at least have a hard time with Joey!

"Now that the rest of the geeks are here, now it's the perfect time to shut you down, once and for all, Chump!" Kaiba smirked.

"You keep believing that Kaiba! I actually wanna see how you can take down 5600 before I take down yer last 2750!" Joey challenged.

"It's your move Wheeler." Kaiba informed. "Hopefully you begin to rely on your skills, or lack thereof, instead of hide behind your lies and mind games!"

"Whatever…" Joey sighed as he drew a card. "I'll place one card facedown and summon Gearfried The Iron Knight (1800/1000) in attack mode!" He announced as Joey summoned the metal warrior onto the field. "Are ya sure ya don't wanna start over, Seto?" Joey smiled, which made the CEO glared.

"Don't you dare call me Seto! You are not allowed to call me that, chump!" Kaiba glared.

"Yer right! My mistake…" He sighed. "You'd probably prefer to be called 'Gozaburo,' anyway."

"Joey!" Tea protested. Apparently Joey wasn't the only one to remember the situation surrounding him and his stepfather! Tea thought that his comments were uncalled for, not to mention mean.

That comment really got under the CEO's skin as he then gave Joey a vicious glare. "Now you're going too far, Wheeler!" Kaiba hissed at the blonde! "I am nothing like that bastard!"

"The hell you are!" Joey begged to differ. "Look at ya! Yer both cold, heartless snakes in the grass, ya always look to put others down, and ya look like ya haven't had a good happy meal in years! Are ya happy bein' this freakin' negative? Are ya happy knowin' that no matter what happens, you'll always be known as Mr. Roboto, Mr. Ice, and Mr. Constipation?"

Kaiba glared. "Constipation? Are you really trying to piss me off?"

"It's the talk around school! Besides, have ya paid attention to how yer soundin' lately? You sound like someone just shoved a cork up yer ass and keeping whateva you-"

"YOU ARE SICK SICK FREAK, WHEELER!" Kaiba screamed, both disgusted and outraged by the blonde's sick thought. "CAN WE JUST GET BACK TO THE GODDAMN DUEL ALREADY?"

"Fine, let's continue the duel! And would it kill you to smile a bit?"

Kaiba responded, teeth clenched together, as he made a forced smile. A smile so forced that one could be shocked that there aren't any cracking sounds being heard. "Maybe…" He gritted.

"I still haven't attacked yet, so Gearfried, attack Kaiba Directly!" Joey ordered as the Iron Knight swung his sword at Kaiba, lowering his Life Points…

Joey: 5600  
Kaiba: 950

"I end my turn. One more attack and yer done! You sure ya don't wanna start over?" Joey asked.

"Ask me that again, and I'm going to slap the living piss out of you!" Kaiba drew a card. "There, I play Dian Keto the Cure Master and get back 1000 of my Life Points." Kaiba announced as his Life Points increased.

Joey: 5600  
Kaiba: 1950

Kaiba had a plan, and Wheeler's Iron Knight was the key to do it. "Now, I play cost down!" He announced as he discarded one card. For the price of one card, the level of every monster in my hand is lowered by two, meaning that I can summon my Magical Marionette without a tribute (2000/1000)!" Kaiba announced as the monster was on his side of the field! "Next, I activate Enemy Controller, which I'll pay the same amount of life points I just activated!" He announced as a video game controller appeared on the field, with the game cord "plugging" into the Iron Knight. Kaiba's Life Points then dropped back down…

Joey: 5600  
Kaiba: 950

"Enemy controller, take control of Wheeler's Iron Knight! Left, Right, A, B!" Kaiba gave the commands as the control combinations were inserted into the materialized controller. Gearfried was then brought to Kaiba's side of the field! "Hey Wheeler, you know about my Magical Marionette's special ability, do you?"

Joey scratched his head. "Nope… Never even seen that card before to be honest!"

"Every time I activate a Spell card, Magical Marionette gets one Spell Counter! For Every Spell Counter my magical Marionette gets, its Attack Points increase by 200! And since I activated my Enemy Controller after I Summoned my monster, my Magical Marionette gets one spell counter, thus increasing its attack points (2200/1000)!"

"So your Magical Marionette stronger, Kaiba! Even with my Iron Knight helping you for one turn, I'd still have 1600 Life Points left." Joey reminded.

Kaiba scoffed, "Don't count on it, Chump! As I now reveal the last card I'll be using this duel!" Kaiba picked up the card he just drew and showed it to him. It was the Spell card, Butterfly Dagger – Elma. "Butterfly Dagger increases any monster equipped with this card by 300 Life Points! And now I'm going to equip it to your Iron Knight!"

Joey narrowed his eyes. "Kaiba…Gearfried's special ability destroys any cards equipped to him! That card's useless to him!"

His grin became wider, "Who said that the card was going to benefit him! It's going to benefit my Magical Marionette! Did I mention that Butterfly Dagger returns to my hand immediately after it's destroyed?"

Joey eyes went wide, now having put two and two together! "You're gonna keep equippin' Gearfried with that card until Magical Marionette gets stronger, aren't you!"

"Look at the big brain on the dog! You should get a doggy treat as a reward!" Kaiba taunted. "Oh, and Wheeler, there's no way an hell you can stop this from happening! It's just going to be a continuing cycle until I'm good and ready for my final attack!"

"So…I'm fucked, huh?" Joey shrugged.

"WHAT?" Tristan shouted. Not believing that Joey was going to just give up! "YOU HAVE A LOT MORE LIFE POINTS THAN KAIBA AND YOU'RE GONNA JUST FUCKING THROW IN THE TOWEL?"

Tristan apparently wasn't the only one as Arisa stood up from the stands. "Whatabout the card you got from-"

"Arisa, just let me lose okay!"

"But-"

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "What card…"

"It's nothing! It can't be of any use to me now, anyway! Hey, when yer beat, yer beat!" Joey shrugged. Apparently he didn't care about this duel anymore. Win or lose, he could care less.

"That's a first, we agree on something." Kaiba smirked as he went to equip Butterfly Dagger to Gearfried, only for it to be destroyed, and then return to Kaiba's hand. As a result, Magical Marionette's attack increased, Kaiba continued the cycle, destroying and retrieving Butterfly Dagger with Gearfried's effect, and increasing Magical Marionette's attack as everyone just watched. Soon it reached 3000…4000…5000…by the time Kaiba was done, Magical Marionette's attack was up to 500000!

Joey just whistled, "Yer goin' all out on this, are ya Pal?"

"I am not your pal!" Kaiba glared, as he was now ready for his final attack! "Now Magical Marionette…"

"It's been nice duelin' ya!"

"Attack Wheeler Directly!"

"Congrats Kaiba, you won…"

"And wipe out the rest of his life points with-" Kaiba stopped as he realized what Joey just said. He couldn't possibly be doing what he thought, could he? "Oh no…Oh hell no… You are not losing this duel on purpose! I haven't attacked yet and you can't quit until the duel is over! I decide when you quit, Chump!"

"It goes without saying Kaiba! I have no monsters on the field and I don't have a trap card that can-"

"Well I change my mind, I'm not attacking this turn!" Kaiba declared. "In fact, I end my entire turn right now! I refuse to be your charity case, Wheeler!"

"I'm not gonna duel if it means that I'm gonna have to do it for the rest of my life!" Joey declared, "Much less if it's the only thing I do! So attack me right now and end this!"

"Too late, I ended my turn already!" Kaiba crossed his arms as Gearfried was back on Joey's side of the field.

"Fine…" Joey drew a card "I'll end my turn without doing anything! Yer move, Kaiba!"

Kaiba drew a card, "Should I make a move? No…I'll end my turn!"

"Damn it Kaiba, just attack already!" Joey drew another card, "I end my turn!"

"I attack when _I_ want to, not when you want me to!" Kaiba drew a card. 'He's up to something…' He thought. What was it with Joey that he wants to lose so bad? 'He's probably doing it on purpose, just to make me look like a joke,' The CEO thought. But he wasn't going to fall into his little trap. Not again… If he was going to beat him, it was going to be just like before: On his own terms, not his! "I'll just end my turn! Face it, Wheeler! I don't like taking up easy victories! Duelist Kingdom, you made a complete fool of yourself! At Battle City you at least showed an ounce of a challenge! Now you won't even try to beat me? If you wanna lose, you're gonna have to earn that privilege! Unlike my Stepfather, I don't like wasting my time trouncing weaklings who won't even fight! So if you're gonna lose, you're gonna have to earn the privilege! So now I end my turn!"

"Fine, have it yer own way!" Joey drew a card. "I now summon Raging Flame Sprite in attack mode (100/200)!" He announced as a small pixie-like magician appeared with a wand-like torch. "Raging Flame Spirte's special ability is that it can attack directly even with monsters on the field! And every time it does, its attack increases by 1000! So Raging Flame Sprite, attack Kaiba directly!" He ordered as the Sprite flew around past Magical Marionette as he then fired a fireball from his wand, barely making a dent into Kaiba's Life Points…

Joey: 5600  
Kaiba: 850

Raging Flame Sprite's Attack Points increased (1100/100) as Joey went to conclude his turn. "I end my turn by activating Release Restraints, allowing me to summon Gearfried the Swordmaster (2600/200)!" Joey stated as the restraints around his Iron Knight were released, revealing the ebony-haired Swordmaster. "Now do you want to attack me Kaiba? But to be honest, ya missed the bus on that one! Because next turn I'm gonna whip yer tail!"

"Delusional are we, Wheeler! Let's not forget that my Magical Marionette has more than enough Life Points to destroy you Swordmaster, let alone your little Sprite!"

"Then prove it already, Rich Boy!" Joey challenged. "Try to wipe out the remaining Life Points!"

Kaiba drew his card! "I don't need to summon a monster as my Magical Marionette is more than enough for you!" Kaiba ordered, "Magical Marionette, wipe out Wheeler's Raging Flame Sprite and the rest of his Life Points!" Kaiba ordered as the Marionette sent its doll to destroy the small Sprite. After the dust has settled, not only did Joey not lose the duel, in fact he only lost 2900 Life Points…

Joey: 2700  
Kaiba: 850

"You should've wiped out the last of my Life Points when I first gave you the chance!" Joey explained as his Trap Card was revealed. "Say hello to my Skill Drain Trap Card! All it costs me is 1000 Life Points and the effects of all monsters are negated! You only did 1900 Life Points worth of damage since the effects of my Raging Flame Sprite and your Magical Marionette were negated!"

"Now you want to duel seriously?" Kaiba replied in both anger and frustration.

"I realized what I'd be doing to you would be far worst than what you did to me in the past! I mean sure, it was humiliating at Duelist Kingdom, disappointing at Battle City! But if I just tanked the duel, it'll be an insult to you, Yugi, and every duelist I faced. Basically, it's either duel from yer heart or don't even bother to bring yer deck!"

"Oh great, that speech is worse than Yugi's ranting about the Heart of the Cards or Tea's speech about Friendship!" Kaiba narrowed his eyes.

'A match made in heaven.' Joey thought to himself as Tea glared at Kaiba.

"Just duel, Kaiba!" She glared.

"How nice of you to let me know this now, Wheeler!" Kaiba said sarcastically!

"I know, and fer that, I apologize!"

"Just get back to the duel! I don't need or want your apology!" Kaiba snapped as he went to summon a monster! "I'll end my turn by placing one card facedown and sacrifice my Magical Marionette to summon Kaiser Glider in attack mode (2400/2200)! He announced as the Golden Dragon appeared on the field! Joey just smiled.

"Yer up to something, are ya Kaiba?" He asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

I guess I'll find out with my attack! That's why I play Autonomous Action Unit!" Joey explained as his Life Points went down…

Joey: 1200  
Kaiba: 850

"For 1500 Life Points, Autonomous Action Unit lets me select a monster from yer graveyard and control it!" He explained. "And take a wild guess which one I pick?"

"You wouldn't dare take my Ultimate Dragon, Wheeler!" Kaiba threatened.

"Don't worry, that would be too much of an overkill for me, anyway! That's why I'm just going to take one of your Blue Eyes White Dragons!" Joey said as Kaiba's Blue Eyes appeared on his side of the field. Next, I'll play Monster Reborn to bring back my Red Eyes Black Dragon!" Joey announced as his Red Eyes appeared on the field! Next up, is my Spell Card Pot of Greed, which I'll use to draw two cards…" Joey drew two cards as a grin came to his face. "And last but not least, I play Polymerization to fuse my Red Eyes with the monster I just drew from my deck, Meteor Dragon (2000/1800) to form Meteor Black Dragon (3500/2000)! Red Eyes and Meteor Dragon combined together, forming the Magma-like Dragon! "Now I have three powerful monsters on the field, each of them alone can take out yer Kaiser Glider and win me the duel! Blue Eyes, attack Kaiba with yer White Lightning!" Joey ordered as Blue Eyes was about to attack!"

"LIKE I'M GONNA LET A HACK LIKE YOU BEAT ME WITH MY OWN BLUE EYES!" Kaiba activated his trap card. "Activate Magic Cylinder!" The White Lightning went into a cylinder that appeared in Kaiser Glider's hands. "Hey Wheeler, there's something that belongs to you!" Kaiba informed as the Cylinder was flipped over. The very attack he had ordered fired back at Joey as it proceeded in whipping out the rest of his Life Points…

Joey: 0  
Kaiba: 850

Kaiba smirked, "After all that, you're still the same 2nd-Rate hack I defeated before."

"Whatever Kaiba…" Joey shrugged. "It's just a game."

"Keep telling yourself that…" Kaiba's Dueling Platform lowered as Arisa saw Joey's hand before he placed it back on top of his deck. What shocked her most of all was that one card he had in his hand. "Tremendous Fire!" She gasped. If Joey had played that instead of going for an attack, he would've won the duel instead of Kaiba. Talk about having it in the bag and lost…

Joey's platform began to lower as Arisa, Jackson, as well as Yugi, Tea, and Tristan came up to the lowering platform.

"And you almost one!" Tristan said. "Then Kaiba pulled that Trap Card on you."

"How did you get a card like Skill Drain?" Yugi asked, impressed that he even owned a card like that. "I figured with your budget, or lack thereof, you couldn't even afford the cheapest packs from Grandpa's shop."

Joey sighed, "Let's just say that I won a few Ante-rule duels." He admitted. "And after this duel, I'm just going to say that with the record of 10-5-1, I now declare my retirement from Duel Monsters!" He then announced, much to the shock of everyone, especially a certain blonde girl…

"You serious, Joey?" Yugi asked.

"You're kidding, right?" Tristan added.

"I'm serious as Kaiba over there." Joey pointed to Kaiba, who was now leaving.

"OH NO YA DON'T!" A very peeved Arisa Mallovic grabbed Joey at the loins of his white shirt. Pulling him down to her eye level. "You could've beaten Kaiba and you know it!"

"Look Arisa, I lost to Kaiba! He beat me fair and Square!"

"But you had it in the bag! Don't think I didn't see that other card you drew from Pot of Greed's effect, Joey Wheeler!"

"What?" Yugi, Tristan, and Tea's eyes went wide.

"It's nothing…" Joey assured.

"Nothing my foot! You had Tremendous Fire in your hand, didn't you? I saw it in your hand so don't try to deny it!"

"Yeah, so what if I did! Like I already said, you lose, you lose! Not the end of the world!" Joey explained. "Besides, even if I did use Tremendous Fire it wouldn't have changed a goddamn thing! Not with Kaiba!" The mentioning of his name grabbed the attention of Kaiba as he turned around to look at his enemy. "Kaiba would've said something like 'You just beat me by a fluke and nothing more' or some lame excuse like that! So that's why I took a dive! Kaiba could just fuckin' become God of Duelin' for all I care. If I win, I get no respect! I lose? I still get no respect! Win, lose, or draw, I just can't win with Rich Boy, so why does it even matter? I already _know_ I can beat Kaiba! Hell, _Kaiba_ knows that I can beat Kaiba! That's why I'm washing my hands with dueling, so Kaiba will back off and get a life or something! Then he won't see me, and I won't have to see his face ever again!

"Don't you ever think about judging me, Wheeler!" Kaiba snapped, having heard enough of Joey's mouth as he stormed over! The last thing he needed right now was this chump putting words in his mouth, no matter how true they may seem to be. "You never have, and you still don't have any grounds to judge me!"

"Why the hell not? That's what you've been doing to me since day one, Kaiba!" Joey retorted. "So what yer saying is that it's okay for you to go around judging people, but not the other way around? I always knew that you were conceited, but goddamn I didn't think of you as a double-standard hypocrite! Why are you like that?"

Kaiba crossed his arms. "What have you been doing? Taking speech lessons from Tea?"

"At least she has a point! Damn it Kaiba, I'm trying to _help_ you!"

"Well I don't need any help from anybody! Much less help from you, and even less your backhanded help!"

"I'm trying to at least help you before you do something fucking stupid and end up regretting it for the rest of your life! Let's face the facts, Kaiba: All you have, besides Mokuba, is yourself! You're basically pushing people who are _trying_, god knows why, to get through to you! To be a friend!"

"Please! Like I want to have a bunch of pals over and have a 'good time!' You're wasting your time and mine with this little spat, Wheeler!"

"That's twice we ever had an agreement! I'm outta here!" And with that, Joey storms out of the Kaiba Land Dueling arena. 'He's never gonna change. Why the hell I even bother? He ain't worth the stress anyway.'

"Joey, wait!" Deliah called out. "Hold on-"

"I'll see ya tomorrow…" He said as he went to open the door.

"Oh no ya don't! Tristan ran off after him, with Yugi and Tea following. "You're not getting off that easy!"

Outside, Joey began his not-too-long walk home as he continued to reflect what happened back in Kaiba Land. "You try to be nice to a guy, to be friendly, to just have a duel for fun! And this shit happens!" He released his frustration. He had to just face facts. 'No matter if you're as smart as Einstein or have the patience of a Shepard, you can't save everyone, Hasselhoff. Things can't possibly get any worse!'

"Joey Wheeler, you wait one second Young Man!" The loud, angry voice of Tea Garnder shouted as Joey sighed.

'Oh wait, it did…'

"What the hell's up with you, Man?" Tristan asked. "First you start going to places without telling us! Then we find out that you're lying about your grades, and now we find out that you have good cards?"

Joey sighed. "First, I've already told you about that! Second, did you read my essay? And third, like I said, ever heard of duels where you give up your rarest cards?"

"Well First, you should've told us instead of keeping a secret! Second, that's not a good reason to intentionally flunk yourself, and third…well…umm…" Tea couldn't think of anything to retort to the Ante rule duels Joey participated in.

"How did you find yourself in those kind of duels anyway?" Yugi asked, bailing Tea out a bit.

"It's a long story…"

"We have t-"

"Time! I know, Tea. So where'd you want to go, the game shop, or my place?"

"How about we meet at _your_ place for once, Joey!" Yugi suggested. "Everytime we all me, everyone suggests that we meet at the game shop! Let's hang out at the game shop! Why can't we hang at someone else's house for once?"

"Because Tristan's parents doesn't trust company over after that Rave Party incident, and Tea's pops doesn't even trust us! I mean, if he doesn't even trust Yugi over there with Tea, think about seeing two former gang members, let alone former bullies being around 'daddy's little girl!'"

"Stop it, Joey!" Tea crossed her arms. She hated being referred to as Daddy's girl! Just because she was a good student making a 3.8 GPA, and has dreams of being not an erotic but an exotic dancer, doesn't mean that she was overprotected. "Just because my daddy doesn't trust Yugi, especially after a certain incident a certain Spike-head was-"

"For the last time it wasn't anything like that!" Tristan pleaded his case.

"Hey guys!" Arisa walked over to the trio. Drinking a can of sprite she received from the vending machines in Kaiba Land. She'd say one good thing about Kaiba: At least he has good taste in sodas. She raised an eyebrow at the brunette-brunette argument. "What's with them?"

"You were snooping in my room!" Tea argued at Tristan.

"I was looking for my wallet!" He said in his defense.

"YOU HAD YOUR HAND IN MY PANTY DRAWER!"

"IT WAS OPEN AT THE TIME, IT PROBABLY FEEL IN THERE!"

"IN MY ROOM?"

"WE WERE IN THERE FOR A SECOND!"

"…Okay, too much information." Arisa said, now disturbed.

"A'ight, we'll meet at my house!" Joey said. "If it'll get yas to shut the FUCK UP FOR ONE SECOND!"

"Now that I think about it, we've haven't been to your place ages!" Tristan mentioned, hoping to change to the subject.

"So it's settled. As soon as we…well…most of us change out of our Uniforms, we'll meet ya there!"

"And Joey's gonna cook for us all!" Arisa chirps.

"Not gonna happen." Joey replies.

"Oh yes it is!"

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is!"

"No it's not!"

Arisa looked down as she began to "faux-cry." "Yes it is…" She then gave him what was known to be the biggest evil known to man: The Chibi eyes.

With a sigh, Joey nodded. "Okay, I'll cook."

"Yay!" Arisa cheered as she tightly hugged Joey, much to the amusement of Tristan.

"They make such a cute couple together!"

"Shut up, Tristan!" Tea hissed at him.

* * *

Okay, that's it for this chapter! I gave you a pretty long one this time! Next chapter, Joey explains about his extra duels. Also, Kaiba realizes what Joey did in the duel, so you can bet he can't be happy! 


	18. Some Explainin’ To Do!

Now here's the next chapter to this story! This morning, I went to the Sneak Preview of the next Yu-Gi-Oh Booster Pack set, The Lost Millennium and I managed to get some cool cards. Ultimate Insect LV7, Millennium Scorpion, Criosphinx, and of course, the exclusive card just for showing up, Amazoness Chain Master!

**MagicmanSmokegirl**– That's a very good question. Maybe that'll be visited.

**Kizakitty** – Thanks. What will happen, you're just gonna have to find out!

**Jasmemini** – No problem. I know that I'm repeating things over and over again, but I do try. On your theory about Joey and Kaiba, that's a very interesting one. Hmm…

* * *

**Chapter 18: **Some Explainin' To Do!

At Joey's apartment, everyone was at the table. Joey, on the other hand was in the kitchen fixing a few snacks. He figured that it'd be the only way to silence the over-active Arisa, let alone avoiding her "chibi-eyes" for the millionth time. He decided to just make the gang some sandwiches, since he wasn't going to go all out and make dinner. As today the family was going to order take out from Burger World! Personally, Joey would prefer Sonics, but then again beggars couldn't be choosers, especially when they were in the minority of the decision…

"So how's the sandwiches 'coming?" Tristan called out. He had switched into his Red Jacket and a pair of blue jeans as Joey just placed away the peanut butter.

"Keep yer shirt on!" Joey called out. "So how many of yas wanted PBJ?"

"Just me and Tea!" Arisa reminded.

"Good, that leaves everyone else with Ham, Cheese, and Mayo!" Joey placed the peanut butter and mayo covered knives in the sink before carrying a plate filled with Sandwiches. "Alright gang-" He was then barraged by his friends getting into a pile as they went to take the sandwiches. Leaving the poor blonde on the floor, miraculously holding onto the plate which still contained one Ham/Cheese/Mayo sandwich. "…Dig in…"

"How about the drinks?" Tristan called out.

Joey got back on his feet. "I would've been back in the kitchen getting' them if I wasn't mugged!" He said a bit bitterly. "So what'cha want? Lemonade? Pepsi? Root Beer?"

"Don't you have any coke?" Tea asked. Like Tristan, she too has changed clothes, changing in a white jacket over a pink shirt and blue jean shorts. She would've worn a skirt, but all she could've remembered was the thought of Tristan's hand in her drawer, let alone touching her underwear! No matter what he said, that thought always made her feel…violated. She loathed the fact that he, or any man for that matter, would even want to go through her panty drawer. It could've been worse! That hand might have belonged to Duke Devlin, knowing how much of a playboy he was! After all, he was the one with the trio of Cheerleaders chasing him as if they were his shadow.

"We're a Pepsi family, Tea!" Joey informed, instantly shutting down any chance Tea could enjoy the taste of Coca Cola, at least while in this house. Personally, he wouldn't mind drinking a Coke every once in a while, but for some reason his mother had a huge thing against it. Serenity, on the other hand, preferred Coke instead of Pepsi, but that was hardly the case since she barely drank any soda in the first place.

"Okay, I'll take a Lemonade!" She decided.

"Us too!" Tristan and Arisa chirped.

"We all might as well have the same thing, right?" Yugi chirped. If it wasn't for the Black tank top, one could've sworn that Yugi hasn't changed from his school uniform at all!

"Okay, lemonade for everyone!" Joey said as he went to the fridge to take out five cans of Country Time Lemonade

"So Joey…" Yugi started.

"So…"

"About the duels you wagered your rarest card. How did you find yourself in them?" He asked.

"And you can't use the 'Long Story' excuse!" Tea informed. "If we have to, we'll stay until midnight if we have to!"

"I told ya I was going to get to that!" Joey informed as he grabbed a seat. "Okay, it all started not too long before our duel… I was visiting at Gramps' shop, using what little money I had to buy some cards…" He explained.

_-Flashback-_

The door to the Kame Game Shop opened as Joey walked in, looking at his new pocket scale he had bought. He then waved at the owner. "Heya Gramps!"

"Hello Joey!" Soloman Moto greeted. "Yugi's on an errand right now. Would you like to wait for him?"

"Sure." Joey shrugged. He didn't have anything better to do anyways.

"I haven't seen you in weeks. Have you been busy?"

"Well…I've been grounded." Joey admitted. "Let's just say that I really have a huge anger problem."

"I see…" Soloman nodded, then notice what Joey has in his hands. "You have a pocket scale, I see."

"Yeha…got it from a yard scale." He explained. "It was only three bucks, but it appears to be in good condition. What people would use a Pocket Scale for anyway?"

"Various things…" He explained. "I'm sure you'll find a use for that scale…"

"Yeah right…" Joey muttered under his breath. Why he even buy the damn scale in the first place? Oh right, he won 100 bucks in a contest drawing and just needed to waste the last bits of dollar bills he had before he could start using the big ones. He guessed he could use some of the money to get some packs to improve his deck. Just barely beating him at Duelist Kingdom wasn't enough. He knew that he would have to get new cards and make a new theme deck. As much as he hated to admit it, Kaiba had a point! He would never be considered a good duelist unless he got rid of his gamble deck. Problem was, that was all the duel monster cards he had. He was lucky to have gotten Gilford The Lightning and Gearfried the Swordmaster in the last few packs he bought. Dark Magician Knight and Knight's Title were also lucky pulls, except that they were all but useless to him with a possible exception of his upcoming duel against Yugi.

With a sigh, Joey walked up to the counter. "I'll take ten packs." He said. "Five of the dark green ones, the rest outta the gold ones."

Solomon blinked a bit. "Ten packs Joey? You must really have some money on you today."

"Yeah, for once I'm not broke…well at least at borderline." He joked as he took out two twenties. "Here ya go!"

"And here are your packs." Solomon took the money in exchange of the packs as Joey looked at the new packs he has purchased. The dark green packs had a picture on a silver falcon-like dragon firing a dark blackish violet blast. While the gold packs had a picture of an orange humanoid figure. "You're holding the Soul of the Duelist and Rise of Destiny packs."

"Hmm…" Joey took a seat at a small table and looked at the cards. "Well…time to at least put this scale into some use…" He said as he took out the scale from his green jacket. He placed one of the Soul of the Duelist packs on the scale once it was turned on. "13.5 grams, huh?" Joey placed the pack aside as he placed another one on top. "Whoa, 13.6? What, did someone placed in more than one?" Joey decided to place that card in a different pile as he continued to measure them. At the end, Three of the Soul of the Duelist packs and one of the Rise of Destiny packs each weighed 13.6. Two more Rise of destiny packs weight 13.5, one SotD weighed at 13.4 and the rest weighed at a 13.3 "Wonder why they weigh differently…" Joey decided to open up one of the 13.7 packs, this was from the Rise of Destiny packs he bought. He sorted through the cards. "Junk…useless…useless…" He sorted the cards as he then saw one card. It was an Ultra Rare Mystic Swordsman Lv6. "Okay, this can't be real…" Joey went to open up another Rise of Destiny pack. This one weighting at 13.4 grams! The rare card in this was Fusilier the Dual Mode Beast. "Okay, not as rare as the first, but it'll do." Joey continued to open his packs. By the end, he ended up having three Ultra Rares, three Super Rares and regular rares (Some cards contained more than one rare card as advertised.) and one Ultimate Rare: The monster that was advertised on the Soul of the Duelist pack: Horus the Black Flame Dragon Lv8. However, Joey wasn't too happy that this was the rarest card he got.

"Some use this card is…" He said, disappointment shown on his face.

"Something wrong Joey?" Solomon asked. "Didn't get a rare card? With these packs you should at least get one."

"It's not that! Not only did I get a rare card, but I got the card advertised: I got Horus the Black Flame Dragon Lv8."

"Joey, that's great! So why are you upset?"

"I can't use it!" He simply said.

"Sure you can Joey! It's just as I taught you, there's always a way."

"Seriously, I can't use it!" Joey read the effects of the card. "'This card cannot be normal summoned or set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by the effect of 'Horus the Black Flame Dragon Lvl.6.'"

"So, what other cards did you pull from that Set?"

"Not that were much help, but at least I got some cards to support my Red Eyes: Two Inferno Fire Blasts and lots of Red Eyes Black Chicks." Joey said, being more optimistic.

"You've changed Joey!" Solomon said. "The last time you were disappointed with the cards you pulled, you were depressed." He chuckled, "Not even a mountain of Donuts could cheer you up!"

"Let's just say that I've been getting some much needed help in my life." He simply said before gathering his cards into his jacket and leaving. "I'll see ya later, Gramps." He said as he left the game shop.

_-End Flashback-_

"I knew I saw Horus in your deck, Joey!" Yugi explained. "In the duel, I actually saw a glimpse of your cards after I played Card Destruction and Horus was in your hand."

"I was thankful you did that." Joey admitted. "I forgot to take that out of my deck as I didn't had the right cards."

"So what did you do about that card?" Tristan asked.

"I did what any natural duelist who didn't want to blow money on a pack just to get a card in which Vegas odds were against ya: Start finding Ante-rule duels!" He explained. "I was basically searching for anyone who had a Horus Deck downtown. But that didn't mean I turned down challenges from other people! Unlike Kaiba, I'd duel anyone who challenged me." Joey explained "With the cards I've won, I slowly began to remove my more useless gamble cards from my deck and replace them with more useful rare ones. Like Skill Drain and Mirror Force. My old deck was startin' to turn into a Fire Deck which, when you think about it, sorta makes sense."

"With Flame Swordsman as one of your favorite cards it shouldn't be much of a surprise." Tristan admitted.

"Unfortunately, I only managed to get Horus at Lv4. Meaning my Lv8's still useless. I did managed to win an Armed Dragon Lv7, but gave it to Mai since she probably had more of a use for it than I did, seeing that her deck is mostly Wind Monsters like her Harpies."

Arisa blinked in shock and a bit of hurt. "…What about me?"

"Mai already had Lv5 that she won from someone at a tournament so basically she could use Lv7 with her Pet Dragon." Joey explained. "Besides, don't you run a Union/Removal deck?"

Arisa pouted, arms crossed. "Thanks a lot Wheeler…"

"Anyway, I participated in those duels in the more rural parts of town so hardly anyone knows about them. On the other hand, people out of the blue had challenged me for my LV8 Horus. I'm half surprised that Kaiba didn't show up to challenge me, but then again, I'm just a '2nd rate amateur who relies on luck to win!' And to him, the thought of me with such a rare card is just a 'hocus pocus fairytale.' So, what can ya do?"

"So basically you went the route of the Underground Duelist?" Tristan asked.

"Yeah!" He said, than noticed the slightly disappointed looks on their faces. Even Arisa was a bit shocked. "Hey, it's not like I was doing any shady activity! It's not like I was playing dice or anything!"

"But you could've gotten yourself hurt!" Tea said. "You know how dangerous it is down there!"

"For once, I agree with Tea." Arisa added her two cents. "You know those guys have guns!"

"Hey, it's not like guns were involved. The only reason why I even joined was because I heard rumors about someone owning a Beatdown/Horus deck. When I found him, I had a hard time beating him and when I did finally won Lv6 Horus, it turned out to be a fake! Go figure!" Joey sighed as he took a sip of his Lemonade. "A total waste of time! 'Least I gained some kick-butt cards 'an some Street Cred."

"Street Cred?" Yugi raised an eyebrow out of curiosity.

"It's your reputation on the streets." Tristan explained. "The more you have, the tougher you appear to people, the less likely someone's gonna fuck with you!"

"What does Street Cred have to do with Dueling?"

"When playing with people who are as dangerous as they look," He sighed. "You're riskin' to get jumped."

Tea sighed. First she found out that Joey had a girlfriend, next she found out that he wasn't exactly the biggest idiot in school as rumored around school, now she finds him in dangerous duels? "At least it's not as dangerous as that Shadow Duel back in Battle City!"

Arisa sighed, "Yeah…talk about a close call!"

Tea glared at Joey, "Do you _have_ to tell her everything?"

"What? Was Joey's near-death experience supposed to be a secret or something?"

Joey placed his head into his hands, seeing another argument between Tea and Arisa coming. "Oy vey…"

…

Back at Kaiba Corp., Kaiba was checking over documents in his office as he was still steaming over what _he_ said to him! The never of that chump to judge him the way he did like he had the right too! But it didn't matter. That duel proved that you can give him a few rare cards, but he's still just a 2nd rate amateur who has no business even owning a deck.

"You know he has a point!"

Kaiba rolled his eyes as he sighed. "Why are you here? Don't you have someone else to annoy?"

Seto sighed, "How many times will we have to go through with this! I am your conscience! That means that I can't have 'someone else to annoy.'"

"If you excuse me, I have a job to do." Kaiba went to work on his computer. "I've already wasted enough time already dealing with Wheeler."

"Oh yes! 'The Liar' as you have recently dubbed him."

"Wheeler's all about bullshit! And he has the nerve to judge me? Like I'm some book he can read?"

"Well…he did have a point! You did judge him first! I remember it correctly! He asked if you two could duel with each other sometime, and you said, what was it? 'I'd have a better challenge playing solitaire?'"

"Hey, the truth hurts…" Kaiba scoffed. "Is that all…?"

Seto sighed, "On a more positive note, things seem to be sparkling a bit for you and Kara! You seem to have a bit in common with your girlfriend!" He said slyly.

Kaiba snapped. "SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!"

"Umm…Seto? …Who are you talking to?"

Kaiba looked at the door to see a confused Mokuba, eyes wide. "Umm…er…"

"Do you have an imaginary friend, Seto? Because if you don't, are you talking to yourself?"

"It's nothing Mokuba, it's been a rough day…" Kaiba explained as he went back to his work. "Let's just say Wheeler really pissed me off…"

"Well…umm…Seto…? Then you're really gonna hate this." Mokuba informed.

"What did that hack do now…?" Kaiba asked, annoyed.

"Well, I've been watching the Security Tapes of the duels in the Kaiba Land Dueling Arena." Mokuba informed. "Even though Battle City's over, I still take my job as Commissioner seriously and make sure that there's no cheating involved, like Bandit Keith and Espa Roba did." He said with pride. "I basically watched the duel between you and Joey."

"Did you see him basically begging me to attack him?"

"I saw all of it, including this. Seto…you saw Joey playing Pot of Greed, right?"

"Where are you going with this Mokuba?" Impatience was shown in Kaiba's voice.

"One of the cards Joey drew was Meteor Dragon! And the other…well…"

"My patience is growing thin, Mokuba!"

"Let's just say that Joey got his wish!" He simply said.

"What?"

"The Security cameras showed that Joey drew Tremendous Fire with Pot of Greed's effect! Meaning that all Joey had to do is activate the card and he would've won the duel. Basically Joey lost on purpose, but in a way where he didn't lose face!" Mokuba then noticed his elder brother's silence. "Umm…Seto? Seto?" He was now deeply concerned as his hands began to shake…

On the lower floors in Kaiba Corp, the employees were working hard to finish the day's quota, but were then interrupted by the loud voice of their boss…

"**WHEELER DID WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?**"

"It's on tape in security if you want to see for yourself!" Mokuba uncovered his ears after Kaiba's screaming, 'Way to go Joey! Now you really pissed him off.'

Kaiba was now standing, breathing deeply as his eyes narrowed as he seethed. "After all that, and Wheeler still took a dive? WHEELER STILL MADE A FUCKING CHARITY CASE OUT OF ME?" It took all of his mental strength, as well as a reminder that he would be smashing a million dollar computer to keep him from physically displaying his anger.

"Seto? Are you okay?"

Kaiba sat back down as his eyes narrowed. "That's it…Joey Wheeler is a dead man!" He simply said. "That fleabag better watch his back tomorrow!"

"Seto, isn't there another way to-"

"Wheeler brought this on himself when he took a dive! As much as I hate to even think that loser's worthy of facing me, the fact of someone letting me win as if I'm some pathetic orphan boy named Oliver begging 'Please Sir, I like some more' infuriates me even more!"

* * *

I told ya Kaiba was going to be pissed. Next chapter…Joey Wheeler's a dead man walking…or is he? What will happen when these two meet again? 


	19. Joey Wheeler: Dead Man

Let's get this chapter started! Just so you know, I decided to (finally) change the title into something that actually made sense, seeing how the story is about change. A quick warning, in later chapters things will become a bit dark.

**cherry-star-aus** – Yep, he's pretty much fucked isn't he?

**MagicmanSmokegirl** – I figured that Kaiba doesn't want to be reminded of being an orphan! He's the type of person who'd want to forget about the past, as it could be seen before the Marik/Yugi duel IIRC. Especially when he mentioned that he wanted everyone to act as if the Noah Arc never happened.

* * *

**Chapter 19: **Joey Wheeler: Dead Man.Late at Night 

Joey was busy getting prepared for school tomorrow as he was once again on the phone. "Okay, so what's the plan again?"

"There's a movie coming up Friday Night! Meaning that the four of us can go on a double date! Just you, me, Tea, and Yugi!" Arisa suggested on the other line, already under the covers of her bed.

"This isn't fool proof, isn't it?" Joey simply said.

"Not if you screw it up!" Arisa teased.

"Hey, it's not like I don't want it to happen. I'm up for it, and I know Yugi would love an event like this! But the problem is what'll Tea think!"

"Her only logical reason's no longer a valid one since we're together!" Arisa reminded.

"And then, there's Tristan too! Knowin' him, he will be like 'Oh can we make it a triple date and have Serenity and I as a couple?' It'll be just an excuse for him to bug my sista!"

"Oh Joey, what's wrong with that?"

"It's that I'm starting to feel that it's not just about wanting to be with Serenity anymore for him, as it now appears to be a competition against him and Duke Devlin." Joey than heard a beep on his line. "Look, I have a call waiting!"

"Go ahead Joey! I'll see ya tomorrow."

"Kay lata!" With a click of his cordless phone, Joey answered the call waiting. "Y'ello!"

"Joey?"

The blonde's eyes narrowed. "Devlin, if this has anything to do with-"

"No, it's not about Serenity!" He assured. "It's about you!"

Joey sighed. "Okay, what's the deal?"

"Well, I've been hearing around town about a rumor concerning you!"

"So you know about the duel, huh?"

"Joey, I'm gonna tell you this, as a friend. Kaiba's pissed at you!"

Joey sighed, "Isn't he always been lately?"

"No, I'm serious! He's _really_ pissed off at you! I heard from a friend who works at Kaiba Corp that he was screaming in his office, something about you being a dead man! So I suggest that you skip school! Better yet, get transferred to another school district, even better get transferred to another country!"

"Like I'm scared of Mr. Excitement!" Joey said, not making this as big of a deal as Duke was right now!

"You know how Kaiba gets. All I'm saying is that you watch your back, okay?"

"Okay Devlin, I'll be careful. Nite!" Joey then hung up the phone as he sighed. 'What the hell do you want form me, Kaiba?'

The Next Day 

The sun has risen into morning. At this time, students of Domino High were getting ready to for school! One, in particular was oversleeping as usual!

"Joey…time to wake up!" Serenity sweetly said, as she was only dressed in a tight black T-shirt and her navy school skirt. However, her brother was still asleep. "Maybe a new, more effective method was needed…" She said as she leaves the room.

Joey continued his slumber, as he appeared to be smiling. "…an' tha crowd goes wild…" He mutters in his sleep as then, a loud trumpet was played on a high note resulting in his eyes quickly opening! "HEY!"

"Hay's for horses! Don't have a cow!" Serenity smirked as she hid the trumpet behind her.

"You don' have to play it in my ear, y'know!" He complained, rubbing his ears.

"How else am I supposed to wake you up? Don't you have an alarm?"

"Y'know I trashed that a month ago! Remember, when you set my alarm for 4 O'clock in the morning with the alarm set up high!"

"It's not my fault you're a sound sleeper!" Serenity said as Joey went to leave his room and headed to the bathroom to prepare for the day. "Oh and Joey?"

"What?" He squeezed out a bit of crest toothpaste as he went to brush his teeth for about a minute.

"I don't mind going with Tristan if you guys are going on a double date, making it a triple date!" She informed as Joey did a spit take with the toothpaste mixed with his saliva.

"WHAT?"

"You and Arisa are trying to get Tea and Yugi together by having a double date, right? So why not have Tristan and me make it a Triple Date?" She explained as Joey narrowed his eyes.

"Were you listening in on our conversation?" He asked as he opened a bottle of mouthwash.

"Maaaaaaybe!" She teased as Joey began to gargle before spitting out the liquid into the sink.

"How much did you hear?"

"Not much…" She said as she left the bathroom! "Just up to Duke Devlin basically saying that you're a dead man!" She then skipped off for her to finish dressing herself.

Joey sighed, "Little Sistas…" He went on to get dressed.

Outside the Apartment 

As Joey, now fully dressed, was leaving his apartment door, he slid on the stair railing down as he had a friend waiting for him.

"Dead man walking…"

Joey glared. "You heard too?"

Tristan shrugged. "Hey, word gets around quick. Where's Arisa? I figured you'd be walking with her!"

"I dunno…probably overslept!"

"Overslept? Maybe you're being a bad influence on her!" He joked.

"Hey, I don't need this from you! From what I'm hearin' I'm already gonna have a hard time today!"

"I still say you should've beat him!"

"Then he'd bug me for another duel, saying some crap about it being dumb luck."

"Just like how you get rare cards?" Tristan said, much to his friend's annoyance.

"Well excuse me for not having a checkbook as big as Kaiba's!"

"Oh Joey! Tristan!"

The two turned around to see Arisa running towards them! "Good, you guys are okay!"

"You heard too, huh?" Joey said, knowing where this was going as Arisa then gave him a cattle prod. "What's this?"

"That's just if Kaiba jumps you!" She said as Joey sighed. Even she had heard about Joey's situation with Kaiba.

"I can handle myself! It's not like Rich Boy has his own posse!" Joey reminded as the trio headed to the school.

Domino High School 

Kaiba stood outside of Joey's locker, arms crossed. He didn't care if it took all morning, all day, or all night for that matter! He was going to be the first thing Wheeler sees when he got here. If he wants his books, he'll have to get past him. And when he saw him, that hack would get the worse beating of his pathetic-

"Hey Kaiba!"

Kaiba looked over and saw Kara waving at him. "You know that's Joey's locker you're standing next to, right?"

"That's the idea." He coldly says. "Wheeler's going to get his books. And when he does, I'll be right there! And then he'll get what he deserves!"

Kara sighed, "Okay, I've heard about this whole 'dead man walking' thing around school!"

"Word does get around." Kaiba glared. "Wheeler has made a fool of me for the last time!"

"What did he do now…" Kara sighed. She had heard from Arisa about the "relationship" between him and Joey. Apparently they've been going at each other's throats for years. Usually, Kaiba has had the upper hand. Now the tables have turned, and since then Kaiba showed uncontrollable anger, which resulted him being in the Anger Management group in the first place. Sadly, this would now be another "regular" day for them.

"If there's one thing I hate, it's being treated like a weakling, a charity case, a dependant chump!" Kaiba declared. "Wheeler had the duel won and he decided to let me have the victory? He could've took out the rest of my Life Points with that damned Spell Card of his, but he decided to just let me have the victory, as if it was some giveaway!"

"Kaiba…it's just a game…" Kara said, which at the look on his face, she regretted saying what she just said.

"Just a game? JUST A GAME? " He screamed.

"Kaiba, calm down!"

"Now you listen to me Kara! I'm supposed to be the number one duelist in the world! I know that I haven't beaten Yugi yet, but that's not the point! How am I supposed to be number one when Wheeler, someone who I've not only beaten, but crushed _twice_ already, apparently turned out to be lying about his deck all along and wasn't playing seriously! Thank about it! All these idiots would probably ask 'What if Joey Wheeler was playing seriously? Would Seto Kaiba actually have beaten him, or will he lose to him just like he did to Yugi?'"

"Okay then, if you feel like this duel's the Holy Freaking Grail to you, then why don't you just talk to him and get him to accept another duel!" Kara suggested. She was becoming annoyed with this. Not only with Kaiba's ranting about how being the number one Duelist means to him, but the whole rivalry between him and Joey in general! All this was doing is not doing any favors for the both of them, and it needed to come to an end.

"Well for your information it is the Holy Freakin-" Kaiba stopped as he recalled what Kara had just said. All he needed to do is to get Joey to accept another duel, and to make sure that he doesn't try to lose on purpose. If he was going to crush that 3rd-Rate chump, he was going to do it on his own terms, not Wheeler's or anyone else's. A grin grew on his face. "Thanks Kara, you just gave me an idea…"

"You're welcome…I think." She sighed as she began to walk away. "I just hope you two settle this like civilized people…"

Now arriving, Joey, Tristan, and Arisa walked inside of the building as the other students looked at them. Comments such as "We'll be missing ya, Wheeler!" "He was so young, so brave!" And the ever popular humming to the Funeral March.

"I wish people would get a grip! It's not like Kaiba's in war paint carrying a tomahawk, looking for a fight!"

"WHEEEELEER!"

The three turned around and saw Kaiba storming towards him. "That loud war cry, on the other hand, may give them suitable grounds."

Kaiba was now face to face with his adversary as he then glared at the other two. "Move…"

Tristan tried to explain. "Hold on, Kaiba! You really need to control that-"

"**MOVE**!"

"Joey, I gotta…well…meet up with Bakura!" Tristan said as he quickly walked away in one direction.

"And I…umm…well…gotta be somewhere else, later Luvvie!" Arisa ran in another direction, leaving a nervous Joey alone with the enraged brunette.

"Now Kaiba…can't we just-"

"I'M THROUGH WITH YOUR BULLSHIT WHEELER!" Kaiba snapped.

"Remember group Kaiba? We have to control our-"

"I don't care! I told you back at Kaiba Land, I decide when you lose! I had you hook line and sinker with Magic Cylinder! But now I find out that you had a Spell Card that could've won you the duel and you didn't use it?"

"So you won! Big freakin' deal! What's wrong with that? You never complained about it before!"

Kaiba clutched onto Joey's jacket as he then slammed him into a locker, "DOES THE WORD PRIDE HAVE ANY MEANING TO YOU?"

"Um…yeah?" He replied a bit startled by the CEO. Who wouldn't after being slammed into a locker?

"Then why are you continuing to take mine away? Tell me that!"

"Kaiba…you're wrinklin' the jacket!"

"Your jacket should be the least of your worries, Dog!"

"You can bitch about it in group later, Kaibs." Joey broke Kaiba's grip as he went to walk away, but Kaiba grabbed his arm.

"I'm not done with you yet! To hell with the group, after school we're going back to my dueling arena and this time you're not going to give me a cheap victory! Got it?"

"…I think I need to be somewhere else now."

"You're not going anywhere until you accept my challenge!" Kaiba stated, eyes narrowing.

"Even if yer late for class and risk a detention?"

"Whatever it takes…" Kaiba's glare became even narrower…

"So I guess you can miss a few days of work, huh? After all, Detention's gonna cut into your precious work time!" Joey reminded. "Myself, aside from group, I don't really have anything to lose! Sure I'd miss hanging out with my friends, but I could always make that up! So between the two of us, you have the most to lose! Let's just hope Pegasus doesn't get word of this, otherwise let's face it: You'd really be fucked!" And with that Joey pulled his arm from Kaiba's grip as he walked away.

"Accept my challenge, Wheeler!"

"A few months ago, I'd accept. But as of yesterday, I'm retired!" He stated.

"Then get out of retirement! Unless you're too scared like the Puppy Dog you are!"

Joey rolled his eyes, "Are you done?"

"Just what I thought, you always talk big, but the truth is that you're just a scared little bitch that puts his tail between his legs and run!"

"Nope, just a guy who knows when to cut his losses and move on." He continued to walk away as the bell rang.

"WHEELER, YOU WILL DUEL ME! YOU'LL DO ME IF IT'S LAST THING EITHER OF US DO!" Kaiba screamed at the blonde before going to his class. As much as he hated him, Joey did have a point. These detentions and the group meetings were beginning to take their toll on his work rate at Kaiba Corp. And he had the blonde Mongrel to blame for _both_ of them.

Outside of Domino High! After School! 

School managed to go by very quickly as luckily for Joey, today was the class he didn't have any with Kaiba. However, once school was out, that wasn't even going to matter…

Joey and Arisa had already left and changed into their regular clothes, much to the relief of the couple. Without either of them having a detention, much less having any other…distractions to deal with, no way they were not going to be late to the group meeting. Yesterday didn't count since technically it wasn't a meeting but more like a field trip to Kaiba Land!

"So did you talk to him about it?" Arisa asked.

"I'll be honest, I didn't even get the chance!" Joey admitted. "After all, I was busy trying to avoid Kaiba as much as possible! So talking to Yugi about the double date idea's nearly impossible."

"Well…you know that you're going to see him in group, right?" She reminds.

"Honestly, I'm hoping that he decides not to go, for real this time! I can't be wasting my time with Kaiba anymore! Otherwise I'm not going to need to bring my grades down on purpose. I mean I want to graduate with some hope of getting into a good school an' having a successful career."

"You're still thinking about it?"

"Yeah…But the main problem is the thing that we all know to have a bit of problems in: Money! Needless to say, I'm flat out broke! I know I got the money I manage to win in that contest, but not if I keep buyin' new packs!"

"You're desperate for Lv6 Horus, are ya!"

"I Just hate having cards that are so useless in my deck. Hell, the only time I used Knight's Title and Dark Magician Knight was in a duel against Yugi! It's just my luck: I keep getting these great cards, only to find out that they're useless to me!"

"Oh well Luvie, it could've been worse!"

"How worse?"

Arisa reached into the pocket of her leather jacket and managed to pull out a card: Three Star, Light Attribute, Warrior monster! 200 ATK, 700 DEF! It's only apparent use was to summon a monster that only one person in this world had! Yes, it was the notorious (read: useless) Kaibaman card. Arisa showed it to Joey. "Look Familiar?"

"I guess that explains Kaiba's fashion sense." He mused. "I almost wonder why Kaiba didn't have that for a costume...er what was he again?"

"Vampire Lord." Arisa shrugged. "But then again, it's all Kaiba's decision."

"Eh? I had enough of Kaiba for one day! Let's just get this group meeting over with so we can-Oh god no!" Joey sighed as they've made it to the YMCA building. However, they had an unwanted guest waiting for them, arms crossed.

"Well…Wheeler and Mallovic. Nice to see you." Kaiba smirked, standing in front of the door.

"What'd you want, Kaiba?" Joey asked, not really in the mood to deal with him right now.

"Debra told me that the meeting's cancelled." Kaiba informed. "Apparently Delia has a family emergency she needs to attend to! And since Kara has an exam she needs to cram for, we all have the day off!

"That's too bad…" Arisa sighed. "At least we can get started on our project for video production class."

"Not quite!" Kaiba informed. "Wheeler, since we don't have to suffer though another meeting, we can now head to my dueling arena and you'll give me the rematch I deserve!"

Joey sighed, "I told you once, and I'll tell you again! I'm retired! I have _zero_ desire to duel, much less against you! I have nuthin' to gain, so thanks but no thanks!" He turned around as he proceeded to walk away.

"See ya around Kaibaman!" Arisa chirped before she went to follow Joey.

"Wheeler, you get back here right now and accept my challenge!" Kaiba called out. "Don't think you can keep hiding from me forever, Whimpering Dog!" He seethed. How dare he ignore him, let alone turn down his challenge! He started to consider threatening him to duel him, but then again, lately the Mongrel always managed to turn the tables, reminding the CEO that he had more to lose than him. Perhaps another persuasive method would be required to make him accept the duel...

* * *

For those of you who are wondering, yes I used the Kaibaman card, the card that, in another person's words, looks like Seto Kaiba in a chicken suit. Personally, I can't see the resemblance. It just looks as if Kaiba removed the buckles from his coat and put on a helmet over a long blonde wig. You be the judge. Back to the story! What plan does Kaiba have to make Joey Duel him? What will he do to get him to accept his challenge? 


	20. To Duel or Not to Duel?

Let's get this chapter started! I know that it's kinda short, but this is just to set up for something big. There will be a sequel to this story, and it will feature a new OOC deck type I'm creating.

**MagicmanSmokegirl** – Basically Kaibaman's a Blue Eyes version of Red Eyes Black Chick: Tribute it to Special Summon Blue Eyes White Dragon from your hand.

**cherry-star-aus** – Pretty much. First of all, I thought of him as a Super Hero.

**burner the echidna** – Here's the next chapter, right after several months.

* * *

**Chapter 19: **To Duel? Or Not To Duel! 

"I dunno… should I have accept his challenge?" Joey took a sigh as and Arisa were walking away from the YMCA building, withthe meetingcanceled and all. Back to school, as one would assume, to perhaps start on their video project!

"Honestly, I would love to see you actually beat Kaiba." Arisa said, with a hint of disappointment in her voice. "But it's your decision. I mean if the tables were turned, would you show me the same respect?"

"Well at least we could get started on our video project." He stated. "But what can we do. We're supposed to come up with some Public Service announcement. One that's like supposed to make the community better. Good luck!"

"How about a 'say no to drugs' campaign?" Arisa suggested.

"Done too much. And yet, people still get high!" Joey explained. "How about something about Violence?"

"Ooooor…We can do something like, let's say, the importance of keeping one's cool!"

"We can think later." Joey stretched his arms out. "Right now, I wanna just relax and have a strawberry smoothie! And no, I don't know how to make one!" Joey said accusingly to Arisa.

"I never said anything about you making one!" Arisa said in a 'you did it to yourself' type of voice.

"Whatever…you wanna go to the Arcade?" He asked.

"Sure?" She shrugged. "Beats hangin' around at home doing nothing!"

The two walked on, with their destination being to the popular arcade! Maybe that's where the gang might be. However…

_"Wheeler…"_

"Eh?" Joey stopped at the sound of the voice, the all too familiar voice.

_"Wheeler…"_

The voice taunted again as the two now look for the source of the voice. They didn't have to look that far, as up above, a blimp flew above them, with a screen on the side of the balloon showing the face of the CEO himself.

"_What's wrong Wheeler? Can't you know when your master is calling you little doggie?_" Kaiba taunted on the big screen, which wasn't doing Joey any favors, seeing that people were around in the city at this hour. "_Or are you afraid just like the scared little puppy dog that you are! You're not a man Wheeler! You're not a real man! Otherwise you would've at least shown that you have a set of balls and accept my challenge!_"

"Oh lord…" Arisa sighed as Joey shook his head.

"Doesn't he know that 'no' means no?" Joey asked, annoyed.

"Well you gotta give him credit for being persistent." The blonde girl admitted as Kaiba continued.

"_You're pathetic Wheeler! A waste of time and money! You're just a 3rd Rate hack of an amateur that should be bowing before my feet, licking my boots! So I can see why you're so scared! Afraid that I'm going to crush you, just like at Duelist Kingdom, just like at Battle City! Even on my worst day and on your best day you couldn't come even close to beating me! You're better off putting on a dog suit and becoming my bitch, because that's the only thing you'll ever be good for!_"

At this point, people were beginning to stare at Joey, the one whose manhood was being put in question. His eyes narrowed as he simply said to them, "I'm not duelin' him! Kaiba can bitch as much as he wants but that still won't make me duel him! Hell, it's shit like this that's going to make me _not_ want to duel him even more! The only reason why Kaiba wants to duel me was because I let him win! Otherwise he'd say that I'm not even worth his time, knowing 'em! So therefore, I'm not duelin' his white-callah'd ass!" And with that statement, Joey walked off with Arisa, who just sighed.

"Why can't you just duel him to shut him up…" She asked silently.

After they were a few blocks away from the intruding eyes, Joey let out a sigh. "I'm gonna head home…At least I'll have some privacy…"

"Want me to come with, Babe?" Arisa asked.

"Sure, I could use the company." Joey shrugged, but then remembered the discussion Tea and the rest had with them after his last duel. "Better invite the guys over."

Arisa took out a silver cell phone from her jacket pocket and gave it to Joey. "You better be the one to call her." She said. "I doubt that she'd welcome a call from me."

"Okay…but you guys need to get along, and I mean soon!" Joey declared, tired of their rivalry, as he took the phone and proceeded to dial Tea's cell.

"Don't worry, we will…" Arisa sighed. "One of us will become mature some day…"

"Let's hope 'some day' equals to 'real soon…'" Joey waited as he heard the ring tone, until…

_"Hello?"_

"Tea? Is that you?" Joey asked, as in addition to the voice, he heard loud music as well as other voices. The voice in question wasn't the one he came accustomed to. This voice sounded rather rushed.

_"No, it's not Tea! She's busy defending her title as the Queen of DDR!" _

"Okay then, whoever this is, what are ya doing with her phone? Y'know that stealin' illegal, right?"

"_Joey, are you saying that you don't remember me?_" The voice asked, with a mixture of both sadness and annoyance.

"Uh…no! Though your voice does sound a bit familiar…" The blonde admitted as Arisa watched on, an eyebrow raised!

'Is this another girl I have to deal with?' She wondered.

"_Familiar? _Familiar_? We went to the same school and your partner in crime had a crush on me, and all you can say is that my voice sounds familiar? God what is wrong with you? It's me, Melody, you idiot!_"

"BACK THE FUCKING SOUL TRAIN UP, IS THAT YOU MELODY?" Joey screamed, now realizing whom the person on the phone was. He hasn't seen her for months and now she was back.

_"Duh!" _

Joey managed to regain his composure from his shock. Shock of talking to someone whom he hasn't seen in months, many months! "So, who else knows that yer back, besides Taye?"

_"If I know Tristan, he's probably running as fast as he can to see me!" _

"Doubt it!" Joey said with a bit of bitterness in his voice "I almost wish he was! Instead of trying to pick up on my sista!"

_"What?" _

"It's a long story!" Joey's eyes then narrowed, thinking about Tristan hitting on Serenity for the 37th time. "So, when you guys get done, why don't you guys head over to my place?"

_"Joey…I don't know where you live."_

"Taye knows." He informed her. "Just ask 'er."

_"Okay…but you're going to tell me about Tristan's new crush!" _

"Why'd you care alluva sudden? I thought you liked Bakura!"

"_We'll talk about it when we're at your place. We'll bring Yugi along, too,"_ She says.

"Okay. Lata!" With a click of the button, Joey ended the call and handed the phone back to the shorter blonde, who looked at him.

"Joey, who is she?" She asked.

"An old friend," He simply said but then blinked. "Come to think of it, she's more Téa's friend than all of ours."

'Uh oh…' Arisa let out a silent sigh. If Melody was anything like Tea, then she would definitely not be getting along with her. She would invite Kara just incase she found herself double-teamed but she had to study for her exams. Hopefully the boys could keep the peace.

**Wheelers' Apartment**

The couple made it to the front of the apartment. However, they were met with an unexpected guest… an unexpected depressed guest.

"Hey Tristan?" Arisa blinked.

"What up, man?" Joey asked, noticing the worried expression on his face.

"Hey Joey?" Tristan asked. "You know where Yugi is, right?"

"Nah, no idea. In fact Me…" Joey stopped, deciding to let Tristan be surprise of the return of his original crush. "Why don't you just head for the arcade?"

"It's not that I'm looking for him. It's him that's looking for you!"

"Me?" Joey blinked. "Why?"

"Let me give you a hint, Joey: He has his deck good and ready to go."

The blonde boy sighed, "Oh lord, don't tell me he wants to duel me. Look, I'm already having enough problems with trying to get Kaiba to leave me alone without Yugi trying to-"

"Joey…" Arisa interrupted him with a reminder. "Maybe he wants to…y'know… enter the you-know-what?"

"…" Joey's response was blank. "You're kidding me…"

"That's what I thought at first, but he's serious. Yugi's really interested in those underground duels you were in." The brunette explained.

"Yeah, but Tristan they're dangerous. I mean seriously, these guys have rules that basically state 'Duel or Die.'"

"That's what I told him! But he wants to go! Face it Joey, when there's a duel, Yugi wants to be there."

"Tristan's right, Joey! Looks like you guys are going to duel." Arisa added her opinions.

With a sigh, Joey shook his head. "One, I'm not dueling. And two, I'll do it, but Yugi's gonna have to leave his Necklace at home. Those guys would be on it faster than wolves on a slab of meat."

"Okay Joey, but promise me that you're not going to get into any fights. You might have mellowed out a bit, but you're still prone to fighting."

"Fine, I'll be careful. But if they make one move…"

"There you are!"

The three teens turn around to see Yugi, dressing very differently from his usual outfits. He was wearing a blue Rockawear jersey, baggy blue jeans, and white jeans. Save for a white visor and, of course, the Millennium Puzzle around his neck. Needless to say, all three pairs of eyes were wide. " S'up?"

"Er…Yuge?" Joey asked. "…Is that you?"

"Yeah, Joey! So let's go!" Yugi said, still cheerful but somewhat in a demanding voice.

"Eh? Are you sure you up for this?"

"What do you mean? Are you saying that I'm not tough enough for this?" Yugi accused.

Joey held his hand up in defense. "Easy now, I'm just saying that this isn't like any other duelin' tournament like Duelist Kingdom or Battle City. I mean, these are people who are ready to kick yer ass, or worse, and I don't mean in Duel Monstas' either.

"Hey, I have Yami to protect me!" Yugi reminded his friend about the Millennium Puzzle's power.

"Don'cha think that we should have a duel _without_ the Millennium Puzzle being involved for once? No offense, to the Pharaoh."

"None taken…" Yugi sighed as he now thought about it as a whole. He was carrying real gold and the last thing he wanted to do was to cause a ruckus, not because of what they'd do to him, but what Yami might do. The last thing he wanted was to scare everyone because an attacker had to be mind crushed to the Shadow Realm. With a sigh of reluctance, Yugi went to remove the Puzzle from his neck. "Here Tristan, hold on to this."

Tristan felt the puzzle being placed in his hands as he had a look of confusion on his face. "Are you sure?"

"Sure, I trust you!" Yugi nodded before turning to Joey. "Okay Joey, let's go!"

"Sure, but you know that there's going to be an Ante rule, right?" The blonde asked his shorter friend.

"Of course. It'll be like Battle City again." Yugi reminded, being as optimistic as always as the two said their goodbyes to their friends before leaving. However, they did not notice that someone was watching him. Someone who feigned reading a newspaper was standing near them. Someone who just smirked as he moved the paper down from his face…

"So Wheeler's going to a tournament…" Kaiba smirked as he watched his enemy and his friend leave. "And according to the hack, it's supposed to be as dangerous as Battle City. If anything, they're probably spouting that 'Hocus Pocus' bullshit Ishizu's been preaching."

The CEO walked back to his limo as he let out a sigh. He was going to follow them and then, he was going to make Wheeler duel him, whether he liked it or not. And then he was going to crush him like the 3rd-rate hack of a chump he was. Nobody makes Seto Kaiba look like a charity case and gets away with it…

* * *

Next Chapter, we take a lookinto underground dueling. What awaits Joey and Yugi…well… just Yugi. Joey already knows. Also, Kaiba goes to follow them, but what'll happen when he sees what he sees? 

As I mentioned, there will be a sequel to this. For those who just want to know what the sequel is and don't care that you're spoiled, I'll post it in my profile page. If you want to talk more about it, email me. But if you're one 2 percent who only needs a small spoiler to hold them over until the story's completion, then I have two words for you: Sin City. …Oh whom I'm kidding, you're going straight to my bios page, are ya?


	21. A Dangerous Place

I already have the next few chapters planned out in my head that, to spoil a few things, includes the inevitable rematch, and things that'll lead to the sequel. If you want to see the summary, it's up but it'll contain some spoilers. Anyway, enjoy the chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 20: **A Dangerous Place…

"This is it…"

"Alright then, let's go!"

"Hold it!"

"Now what?"

"Y'need to remember what I told ya!"

"I know, 'don't try to make yourself stand out. Blend in.'"

"And…"

"'Don't try to provoke anyone, as it'll turn into a full-out brawl.'"

Joey let out a sigh as they stood outside what appeared to be an abandoned 3-story building. The area itself was rundown and otherwise in poor condition: Broken windows, while some of them had boards nailed onto them. He also could've sworn that he heard a scream from the 3rd floor. Once again, he asked himself if bringing Yugi here was a good idea. This wasn't some regional championship or duelist league tournament! This was a more serious tourney. Serious, as in you could seriously end up hurt in a duel, and he wasn't talking about by any shadow games. Forget risking your rare cards, you were risking your health in some situations.

The last time he was here he had a match against some brash punk who clamed to have the full Horus set. Looking to get the last card he needed to unlock his Horus' power in his own deck, Joey challenged him. The fact that he could either win LV6 or lose his LV8 wasn't the worst of it. Apparently his opponent had a posse of his own who wanted to make sure that their leader won the duel. So desperate to the point where they began to make threats towards him, via metal pipes and baseball bats. The match itself? This opponent was basically Rex Raptor minus the Dinos: Purely Beatdown. The main point was to make Horus and his other monsters powerful enough to destroy just about anything he could summon. Making use of three Little Chimeras and Molten Destruction. Raising Horus LV8's attack up to 5000! Not to mention that his other monsters, a Berserk Gorilla at 4000 ATK and three Little Chimeras at 2500 ATK each, were destroying his other monsters. Luckily for Joey, Fairy Box saved him from Horus's Black Flame Blast as Ultimate Baseball Kid and his special effect helped him destroy the pumped-up monsters for the win and Horus LV6. Too bad the card turned out to be a fake… But he did get some compensation: Namely one of his Little Chimera and a Berserk Gorilla. His opponent and his posse soon found themselves on a wrong side of a beatdown from just about everyone. The regular duelists, the spectators, you name it. Even Joey got a few shots in. (He might have changed, but he HAD to let out some of his anger sometime.) Perhaps they've learned their lesson in scamming their opponents. But that was then, this is now…

Now he was with Yugi, the King of Games. As they walked to the scratched-up metal door, Joey thought about what would happen if Yugi got into trouble. He left the Millennium Puzzle with, so Yami couldn't protect him. But then again, he wouldn't draw a huge crowd with the huge amount of gold around his neck. Yugi may've been his best pal, but let's face it: Yugi wasn't exactly the best fighter. He was the bullies' favorite target. And the fact that he was so naïve and trusting didn't do him any favors either. But then again, it was what had changed Joey. But what if Yugi got into trouble? What if Yugi got hurt? Tea would never let him hear the end of it, and Gramps wouldn't be too happy either. Nevertheless, he's already have enough problems with his mom and Kaiba without anyone else getting on his case…

"For the last time, are you sure you wanna-"

"Yes Joey, now stop stalling and let's go!" Yugi demanded, showing a hint of annoyance as Joey sighed, now proceeding to open the door.

'Please don't let things go out of control…' He mentally prayed as the two stepped in. Unknown to them both, a black limo slowly pulled up to the sidewalk that was in front of the building…

"Mr. Kaiba, are you sure that you want to go here?" A limo driver asked as concern was clearly shown on his face. This was definitely not the neighborhood they usually drove through.

"This is the place we're going…" Kaiba clearly stated, as he looked though the tinted windows of his limo. As he expected, the building appeared to be in ruin as there was debris everywhere. 'Obviously somewhere Wheeler would hang out.' He thought to himself as he felt the limo stopped. He knew that by going here he would probably have to deal with people most like him – Crude, rude, loud, and obnoxious. Basically street punks, thugs, and low lives that were probably drug pushing and pimping out girls for prostitution.

As the limo came to a complete stop, the driver exited the car as he then opened the door for his boss. Kaiba stepped out as he looked around. The area's aroma came to his nose as Kaiba showed a face of disgust. 'Let's get this crap over with…' He thought as he walked towards the door. Wheeler and Yugi were already inside he figured, so it was best that he hurried. He already saw Wheeler talking to whoever was at the door before he stepped in. Once Kaiba got a good look at him: A big barrel-chested man wearing baggy clothes, a green bandana, and white and blue K-Swiss sneakers. Speaking of sneakers, Kaiba saw a pair dangling from a power line by the laces. Typical of the trash of society to do something like this… Wait a minute, those shoes looked familiar. Kaiba glanced at them again. They were black and white and only big enough for a small boy. They appeared to be worn out from the weather. And to think that they somewhat looked new, too. If he remembered, Mokuba had a pair of sneakers like those. Kaiba blinked as a memory occurred. About a month ago, Mokuba came to Kaiba Corp in his socks for some reason, as holes were made at the bottom because of all of the walking. He also appeared to have bruises over his body as he was in tears. It was all making sense now! Mokuba's holed-socked feet, the bruises over his body, and the shoes dangling above him meant one thing: Mokuba was mugged! Some punk must've beaten him down, searched him for cash, but didn't find what he wanted, so he took the new shoes he had just got a day ago as collateral.

Kaiba's eyes narrowed as his fist clenched. Just thinking about what happened infuriated him. Why wasn't he informed of this! Did Wheeler and his friends knew about this? Were _they_ behind this? At any case, he was going to find out! Now he had even more reason to come here. First, it was to find that chump and get him to accept a duel so he can beat him once and for all. Now it was also to avenge Mokuba and make those who were responsible pay.

As Kaiba walked to the door, he glared at the man. "Move…" He hissed.

"Man who the hell you think you talkin' to, G?" He asked in a gruff voice scoffed. "S'wrong with you?"

"Do you know who I am?" Kaiba asked with a glare.

"Man I don't give a fuck who the hell you are!"

"I am Seto Kaiba! Number one duelist and the CEO of a multibillion-dollar company! And I could buy and sell your ass if I wanted to."

"Boy, I don't give a fuck if yo' Bill Muthafuckin' Gates! I'll kick yo-'"

"Yo what's up?" Another person came from the door. Shorter, but just about as big as the first guy, and in Kaiba's opinion he was dressed as bad as he was. "What's the deal?"

"Mr. Moneybags thinks he can come up here like he own the damn place!"

Kaiba rolled his eyes, 'They sound and act just like Wheeler!' Speaking of whom, he didn't have time for this nonsense if he was going to get him to duel him again. He just reached into his pocket as he sighed. "How much?" If it would get those two idiots to leave him alone, he'd pay them everything he had in his wallet. He could make up the loss cash in a day.

"What'cha got!" The bigger one asked.

"Like I said, 'how much?'" Kaiba glared.

"An' like I said, 'What'cha got!'"

The second one placed a hand on Kaiba's shoulder as he then said in a smooth voice. "If ya have ta ask, G, you can't afford it."

Kaiba glared at him. "Move your hand…now…"

"Ooooh… Johnny Sunshine's got an attitude!" He taunted, as Kaiba was just about to reach his breaking point.

"Look, if you two don't move out of my way, I'm gonna-" Kaiba stopped as he reached into his pocket. It was empty. He could've sworn he had his wallet in there, or at least his checkbook. How could it have not be in there unless…

"Looks like Moneybags doesn't have that much in his bags after all." The smooth one taunted. "Well, at least not without this." He held up a brown wallet, a very familiar brown wallet as Kaiba's eyes narrowed.

"My wallet!" He exclaimed. No wonder he couldn't feel anything. That punk stole it from him! "Give it back…" He warned as the thief opened up his wallet.

"Mmm…umm hmm… a gold card? Dayum, you must got some mad connections to get this shit, my man!" He continued his browsing as he came up to a picture in his wallet. A picture that just happened to be of Mokuba while they were still at the orphanage! "Who this?" He asked. "Dawg, whatchu' doing having some lil' boy's picture in 'yo wallet? Is that yo-" He blinked as he shook his head… "Aw hell no, don't tell me you into that gay pedo shit!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Kaiba screamed, he didn't even know what was more outrageous: Him being accused of being a gay child pedophile, or Mokuba being referred to as his… his… just thinking about it made him angrier. If he wasn't pissed off before, he was now.

"Aw hell no…" He shouted to the back. "Take a look at this shit, y'all. Rich boy over here got 'lil sumthin' for little boys!"

Inside the building 

To say that Yugi was shocked at what he saw would be an understatement.

When Joey said that this was nothing like Battle City or Duelist Kingdom, he wasn't kidding. In the first room they walked past by, he saw a bit of smoke coming out which was, as he found out, from smoking Marijuana or, in the more popular word for it, "weed." The next room wasn't exactly innocence-friendly either. He had heard of make-out rooms at parties, but what he saw went beyond that. Maybe he should've taken the discarded pair of pink panties outside of the door as a hint before he took a look. It was practically a giant orgy inside which Joey, mercifully, pulled him from the room. When they reached the 2nd floor, at least it was at least closer to what he came here for.

In one room, there were people in there playing roulette. From what he seen, he was thankful that they weren't playing Russian roulette, but then again, who's to say that they wouldn't start today? Speaking of gambling, in another room, more people were in the midst of a poker game. When he looked into the next door passed, he cringed at what he saw. A man with his back leaned against the wall, on crutches as Yugi greatly notice that his right leg was missing. His face wasn't that better as he saw that he had a glass eye in the socket of where his left eye would be. He couldn't help but wonder if he was ever going to get to the room where they were playing Duel Monsters.

Speaking of which, he had his reservations. From the way Joey explained, things could get very violent, and he wasn't talking about Shadow Games. These people had knives and guns that they wouldn't think twice about using. Even Joey admitted that he was surprised that they didn't use them after that dueling fiasco. Still, he was only here for one reason and one reason only: To play a game of Duel Monsters.

"It's at the next door…" Joey explained to his shorter friend. He still wondered if he could still drag him out of there or not. He was still worried, but not for his own safety. He could defend himself if things went out of control. It was Yugi he was worried about. It could be a threat via a knife, gun, or whatever the hell they could grab. He could've sworn he saw someone get an eye full of pepper spray before he got, what Joey had dubbed, "the worse beatdown he'd witness since his days with Diesel Kane." He just hoped that nothing happened today. At least not while Yugi's around. The last thing a guy like him needed to see was a beatdown, let alone one that could possibly kill someone. He was too good of a person to have to deal with that.

Yugi placed a hand on his belt, which held his dueling deck. Before they left Joey's apartment, he prepared for the possibility of losing his Dark Magician in the upcoming duel, in the event that he lost in the match that was more than likely to become Ante-rule duel. But there was always a chance to add new cards to his deck. Maybe there's a new spell or trap card that could improve his deck strategies. Plus, his title as the King of Games was on the line. Case in point, he couldn't turn down the challenge.

Yugi noticed that Joey had stopped. "Is this the room?"

Joey nodded. "Okay Yuge, just watch yerself! Gramps, Tea and Tristan'll kill me if anything happened to-"

"I'll be fine Joey, jeez…" He said as the two of them walked in the room.

Inside wasn't all that much of a deal. The brown couches near the walls appeared to be rundown a bit, and the room appeared to be big. Sure the stereo was playing music that contained words that made his eyes go wide, but he wasn't here to listen to hip-hop. He was here to duel and possibly make new friends.

The game was just about over as the final move came down to this: One player, a red haired female who appeared to be near 20 against another, a black man who wore a blue throwback jersey. He had Ocean Dragon Lord – Neo Daedalus on the field who had just destroyed the girl's Criosphinx, leaving one facedown monster on the field, bringing her down to 300 while he had 4000 life points left over. It was now her turn.

She drew a card as she smiled to herself. Yugi recognized that look as he saw numerous duelists at Nationals on TV with it. She knew that she was going to win on this turn.

"First, I'll reveal my facedown monster: Eria the Water Charmer (500/1500) and place her in attack position." She said. Her voice sounded a bit feisty, Yugi noted, as a young girl with long blue hair holding a blue scepter with a teardrop jewel on top appeared on the field. "Her special ability is that when she's flipped face-up, as long as she's on the field, I can take control of one of your water monsters. Unfortunately for you, your Neo Daedalus fits the bill!"

"Dayum…" He cursed as the young girl worked her magic, and the Sea Dragon was charmed to her side. The female duelist then continued…

"Next, I'll enter my battle phase and have my Water Charmer and your Neo Daedalus (2900/1600) attack you at once!" She ordered as the two monsters unleashed a mixture of hydro and destructive blasts together, both hitting the defending player directly as his Life Points dropped… (600)

"'Least she can't attack any more…" He sighed as he looked to his hand. He had the perfect monster to attack her next turn: Vorse Raider (1900/1200). It was more than enough to destroy her Water Charmer and win the duel.

"If you thought that was over, than think again!" She informed. "I now sacrifice both Neo Daedalus and my Water Charmer to summon Familiar-Possessed – Eria (1850/1500) in attack mode." At that moment, Neo Daedalus instantly exploded as a spirit of what appeared to be Gagagigo proceeded to consume the poor girl until she was under his control. The innocent expression on her face was replaced by narrowed eyes and otherwise a blank expression. "Her special ability, when special summoned this way, is that when she attacks and destroys a monster in defense mode, the difference of its defense points and her attack points are taken from your life points. Not that you had any monsters anyway! Sorry Shane-O!"

"Damn girl, just attack!" He replied. He already knew he lost and just wanted her to just get it over with.

"Okay then, guy! Eria, direct attack! Geyser Blast!" She ordered as the possessed water charmer thrust her scepter forward as a hard stream of water fired onto him as his life points reduced to zero.

The guy, named "Shane-O," slammed the duel disk on the floor before storming off, muttering along the lines of "If I had Vorse Radier that little squirt would've been gone…" He walked by Joey. "Beat her ass, please!" He said to him.

He just gave him a sympathetic look. "Not duelin' today, but my friend is."

Shane-O looked down and saw Yugi. "Beat her ass, please!"

"Umm… I'll try… I guess." Yugi was taken a bit back by the swearing, but not as much. After all, he has somewhat gotten used to it from Joey and Tristan as he then looked at the girl: The winner of the duel. Her red hair was in pigtails as she wore a green camisole top and black baggy cargo pants.

"Well well well, looks like Mr. Black Flame decided to come today." She teased.

"Black Flame?" Yugi asked Joey about the nickname.

"You know about that unplayable card that I have, right?" Joey asked.

"Horus LV8?" Yugi asked as it came back to him. Back at his place, he did explained about him basically entering these Ante rules to get the rest of the Horus set. Only to only win one of them while the last turning out to be a fake…

"Are ya ready to lose?"

"One thing Syd, I've already beaten ya. An' two, I'm semi-retired. The reason why I'm here because my friend here wants to duel!"

"You're friend? You mean you-" Syd finally noticed Yugi, who was beside Joey. "No way… Get out! Seriously, take your friend and get out of here! You mean you know the King of Games himself?"

Yugi blushed a bit. "Err…who did you expect? Seto Kaiba?"

"Don't even joke, Yuge…" Joey sighed. He was definitely _not_ in a good mood to see Kaiba, as annoying as he's been lately. Luckily for him, this was one of the last neighborhoods Seto Kaiba would even consider going to, let alone this place. However, little did he know, he was wrong on so many levels…

Back at the Door 

It's been an hour since he followed Yugi Moto and Joey Wheeler.

It's been five minutes since he walked up to the front door.

It's been two minutes since he was accused of being a gay pedophile.

Now Seto Kaiba, Muti-Billionaire and CEO of Kaiba Corp, was now under judgment of people who not only were they beneath him, but they appear to be straight out of the gutter. From the ghetto, if you will. He came here to find Wheeler, and see if he could get that lying hack to duel him and beat him for the last time. But those two idiots decided to get in his way. And he found out another interesting tidbit: Mokuba was mugged and his shoes were thrown on top of a power line. Now they've gotten back up, it appears. Needless to say, if he wasn't annoyed before, he was now…

"Sooo… you like the little boys huh, Ese?" One of them said, a Latino. He wore the cheesiest-looking shades Kaiba's ever seen. "I know about people like you, Holmes. You think you can own the place just because you have some bling-bling, man!

"Oh please shut up…" Kaiba shook his head as he suddenly sniffed. Smelling a rather unpleasant aroma. What was that, drugs or something?

"You better watch who yo talkin' to, Holmes! Or I'll cut you up, Ese! _¡Córtele a pedazos!_ (Slice you to pieces!)

"Primo calm yo' ass down!" A woman of Puerto Rican decent scolded. "Why you always got to be startin' stuff!"

"Oh c'mon Mamacita," The man known as Primo spoke in a calmer voice. "Y'know we just-"

"If you idiots would just move out THE DAMN WAY!" Kaiba shouted. He was getting sick of this.

"You best betta recognize, boy!" The 2nd delinquent he met, the one who stole his wallet, the one who started this gay pedophile accusation said to him! "Yo don't know who you be messin' with, G!"

"Exactly, you don't know who _you're_ messing with!" Kaiba glared at him. "I can buy and sell each and everyone of your pathetic-"

"Rich boy, I ain't one of your little boys you've be pimpin' to the streets. Bitch, I'll kick yo ass!"

"I hope you know that this is defamation of charact-" Kaiba shook his head. That would probably be too big of words for him to understand. "Nevermind, it's too advanced for you!" His reply was followed by a bunch of "ooohs" from the spectators.

"Ohh… Mr. Pedophile's got jokes." He responded. "But seriously, you need to leave them kids alone. Especially that boy you got a picture of.

"FOR THE LAST TIME, HE'S MY BROTHER! HE ISN'T ANYONE OF THOSE BOYS I'VE BEEN AS YOU SAY 'PIMPIN' OUT!'" Kaiba screamed. When will those idiot get it through there heads that he wasn't gay, nor a pedophile! He actually had a girl he was currently seeing, Kara Wilson to be exact. This caused him to blink a bit. 'Do I actually see myself dating Kara?'

"So he's a gay pedophile and into incest?" He asked, but not just out loud. He was actually wondering about it. What other things he would find out about this CEO. "Tell me, are you also into that pissin' shit, too? Or are you even into that stank sca-" He was cut-off from a hard punch to the face as he was nearly knocked out of his white Nikes.

Kaiba pulled his hand back as he just glared at the rest of the scum and lowlives of this place. Indicating that the knocked-out cretin was just an example of what he'll do to any idiot that messes with him. "Now that we got that out the way, I'm looking for Joey Wheeler. Scrawny, pathetic-looking, just as poor as half of you chumps! Don't make me angry or I'll bring this cesspool you call a hangout down."

"Wheeler ain't here, G. Even if he was, why the hell he wanna waste his time on sum perverted sick freak like you!" Another one replied. Apparently, he was one of those 'posers' trying to act black when in truth he was as white as rice.

"Look, don't try to start any more of this Mac-Daddy crap. I know that 3rd-rate losing chump is here because I trailed his ass all the way!"

"Oh, so you sayin' you a stalker now?"

"Boy shut yo wannabe ass up!" A woman walked over to Kaiba. She was African American and, compared to the rest of them, was at least dressed as if she actually had some class. Wearing Jeans and a shirt that hardly expose much. "You lookin' for Black Flame?"

"Black Flame?" Kaiba raised an eyebrow. Just what was she talking about now, but closed his eyes as he nodded. 'Probably means Wheeler.'

"Yeah, he's here." She said as she moved closer to him. _Too_ close for Kaiba's liking! Her chest wall all but rubbing up onto him at this point! "He's upstairs. He came with some kid. I'll take him to you."

"Move…" Kaiba said coldly to the girl. She was just trying to be nice, but let's get real. Kaiba was all but desperate to get some cooperation, but he wasn't that desperate not to know a Golddigger when he saw one. He saw her plan: Smooth her way onto his good side, then she'll be seeing dollar signs, fancy clothes, and stylin' cars. "I appreciate your cooperation, but unlike just about everyone in this building, I'm not an idiot. So thanks, but no thanks." Once again, Kaiba's comments caused the same chorus of "ooohs" to come from the crowd as the girl who was gracious enough to help Kaiba was now…well…not so gracious anymore.

"You got dissed!" The "poser" exclaimed at the now-angry girl as she gave him a glare.

"Boy, shut yo ass up!" She snapped before turning to Kaiba. "And you! I try to help yo sorry ass out, and this the thanks I get? Oh _hell_ no! You ain't gonna disrespect me, Mr. Rich Man."

"Please…" Kaiba brushed her off as he walked past her. Now going to do what he originally came into this place to do in the first place: Find Wheeler.

"…Oh no he didn't!" She shook her head as she walked towards Kaiba, even going as far as to grab his arm. "Look here, I ain't one of yo little whores you be seeing!"

Kaiba scoffed, "You're right. They'd at least use proper grammar and they are less fake than your hair _and_ your nails." Kaiba expected her to just let go of him and let him be on his way. Kaiba expected her to do just about anything other than what she just did, or rather what he should've expected her to do. Before he realized his, he felt a sharp pain on his cheek as he was looking in another direction. She had slapped him! She actually had the audacity to slap him, _him_, Seto Kaiba! Suddenly everyone thought that they could treat him like he was some commoner, it seemed. First Wheeler's crybaby of a sister, then his girlfriend! Now, as it appeared, one of his friends who're low class and probably even more of a disgrace than he was! That was the main thing they all had in common. They at least remotely had a relation to that damned dog! Everything that's been happening to him lately has been _his_ fault! Once again, the "ooohs" started coming, and Kaiba, for one, was sick of it.

"CAN'T YOU FUCKING IDIOTS DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT FOR ONCE IN YOUR PATHETIC LIVES?" He snapped at the crowd. However, Kaiba would soon regret his outburst, as at that moment, multiple sounds of guns clicking could be heard as, as his luck would have it for him, or against him rather, Kaiba had a group of barrels aimed at him.

Back in the Room

"It's…it's him…"

"Syd?'

"…It's him… it's him…"

"Syd?"

"…It's him… it's hi-"

"SYD!"

The red pigtailed girl blinked as she looked at the source of the shout. "What's wrong Wheeler? Jealous?"

"Nope, yer just actin' like one of those annoyin' clingy fangirls I read about." The blonde explained.

"It's alright Joey!" Yugi assured. It was true that ever since Battle City, he's been getting calls and "special propositions" as Joey, Tristan, and Duke would call them from the opposite sex. Some were dates while others were…let's just say when Tea found out, she was pissed. Which Yugi now wonders why, as she since admitted to having feelings for Joey! The small duelist looked towards his soon-to-be opponent.

"Yeah Joey, it's not everyday we have a big celebrity show up here!" Syd stated as she then turned to Yugi. "But I don't understand why someone like you would come to a dump like this?"

"Oh come on Syd, it's not that bad of a place. All it needs is a bit of Spring Cleaning!" Joey and Syd shot Yugi a blank look. "Okay, a lot of Spring Cleaning, but otherwise it looks like a nice place!"

"It's not the place itself you should be worried about. It's the people."

"Syd, I've already had enough of Joey warning me. I just want to duel!" Yugi said. Despite the people he's seen, there wasn't anything about them that proved to be much of a threat. Obscene and explicit maybe, but not as dangerous as Joey made them out to be. "So Syd, are you ready?"

"You bet!" She chirped as the two proceeded to activate their duel disks, "And please, call me _Sydney_!"

"Oy vey…" Joey rolled his eyes. Syd was falling in love with Yugi already. And the worst thing is, Arisa was going to kill him after she found out that Yugi already has a new crush after him. 'What a fine mess you've gotten yerself into, Wheeler.'

"We're playing with the Ante rule, right?"

"You really want to risk losing your cards? Alright then!" Syd nodded, "And I'm going to put up my Elemental Mistress Doriado for grabs."

"And I'll place my Dark Magician on the line." Yugi announced, as the duel was about to begin.

Yugi: 8000

Syd: 8000

After each have drawn five cards, Syd, being the "defending champion," took the liberty of going first by drawing a card. With a look at the card, she smiles as she places it down. "I'll place one card facedown and end my turn." She said as a card digitally appeared on the field facedown in defense position. "Yer turn!" Now it was time to see how The King of Games Duel… in person. And… How she ranked with the best!

Yugi nodded as he drew a card. 'Not bad.' He placed the card on the field. "I'll Summon Skilled Dark Magician (1900/1700) in attack mode!" He explained as a mage dressed in dark robes appeared on the field. "Next, I'll play Polymerization, fusing together two cards in my hand, Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts and Berfomet to form Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast (2100/1800)! Yugi announced as a familiar vortex opened up as the two monsters, Gazelle and Berfomet, are sucked into it. After a few more moments, the two-headed Flying Mythical Beast appeared. Afterwards, an ebony-colored orb of energy appears as it circles around Skilled Dark Magician. "By activating Polymerization, my Skilled Dark Magician's special ability activates."

Yugi proceeded to explain. "For every spell card activated, a spell counter is placed upon my Skilled Dark Magician. But that will come to play in another time. So now, Skilled Dark Magician, destroy her facedown monster with Dark Mystic Attack!" He ordered as the dark spellcaster thrust his sceptor as it fired onto the facedown monster, which revealed to be Moai Interceptor Cannons (1100/2000). However, since the rock-type monster's DEF was higher than the magician's ATK, the attack failed as the cannons from the stone head's mouths fired a barrage of beams at the magician, resulting in Yugi taking damage to his life points…

Yugi: 7900

Syd: 8000

Syd smiled. "Sorry. My Moai Interceptor Cannons' defense points are just too much for your magician. Nice try anyway."

"My turn's not done, yet." Yugi reminded. "Go Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast. Destroy her Moai Interceptor Cannons with Pulverizing Pounce!" Within his order, Chimera ran towards the stone statues before leaping in the air. Due to his wings, it gained a fair amount of height before it pounced onto the Cannons hard, reducing it to rubble before it shattered.

"I end my turn by placing one card facedown." Yugi concluded as Joey looked on. Yugi had two monsters on the field ready to attack while Syd had none. But it wasn't too bad as Syd hadn't lost any Life Points so to say that she could turn this duel around was certain.

Syd drew a card as within sight of it, she smiled. It was time to get rid of Chimera! "Okay Yugi, now I'll play the magic card Brain Control, which I'll use to take control of your Chimera. "She says as her life points began to drop.

Yugi: 7900

Syd: 7200

"For the cost of 800 life points, I can take control of one monster for one turn, meaning that until your turn comes, your Chimera works for me! So c'mon, Chimera! I got a job for you!" Syd called out as the Flying Mythical beast rushed over to her side, as well as another dark orb of energy appeared around Skilled Dark Magican.

"Of course you realize, you once again activated my Skilled Dark Magician's special ability." Yugi reminded.

"'Sheah, like he's gonna be there for long!" Syd scoffed off. "Now Chimera, destroy Yugi's Skilled Dark Magician with Pulverizing Pounce." She ordered as Chimera went to destroy his original master's magician, however, from the facedown card, chains shout out which wrapped around Chimera, lowering its attack (1400/1800).

"You activated my trap card, Shadow Spell. And as long as this card is face up on the field, Chimera's attack is reduced to 1400 and is rendered unable to attack!" Yugi explained.

"No matter, I'll sacrifice Chimera to summon Hieracosphinx (2400/1200) in attack mode!" Syd announced as the chained beast disappeared, to be replaced by a sphinx with the head of a bird. "That'll end it for me."

Yugi drew a card as he looked into his hand. It was a card he had just recently got, Rapid-Fire Magician. And with two more cards that were useful to him, Fusion Sage and Emblem of Dragon Destroyer. "Now I'll summon Rapid-Fire Magician (1600/1200) in attack mode!" He said as a purple-haired magician in black robes held twin scepters in his hands. "Next, I'll activate Fusion Sage to return my Polymerization card to my hand." He explained as he took his fusion card from the graveyard. Also, muti-colored orbs began to appear as with a thrust of his two scepters, the orbs flew directly at Syd, hitting her directly…

Yugi: 7900

Syd: 6800

"Rapid-Fire Magician's special ability is that for every Spell card I activate, you take 400 points worth of damage." He explained as Joey just look on in shock.

"Since when did ya get that card?" He asked.

"Just got it this morning from a new pack at Grandpa's shop." Yugi explained to the awed blonde as one more orb appeared around Skilled Dark Magician. "But back to business, since my Skilled Dark Magician now have three spell counters, I can now sacrifice him to summon from my deck, Dark Magician (2500/2100)!" The three orbs that surrounded the Skilled Dark Magician began to glow brightly as they soon engulfed him. When the flash disappeared, in his place was Yugi's signature monster, the Dark Magician.

"He's even cooler in person…" Syd spoke of the newly summoned monster, eyes in awe as Yugi continued.

"Now I'll play another Spell card, Emblem of Dragon Destroyer, allowing me to move one Buster Blader from my deck or graveyard!" Yugi took out his deck as he took out his Buster Blader card." And since Emblem of Dragon Destroyer was a Spell card, my Rapid-Fire Magician's special ability activates once more!

Syd once again shielded herself from the barrage of mystical orbs that hit her as her Life Points dropped once more.

Yugi: 7900

Syd: 6400

"And that's not all! Now I'll activate the same Polymerization card I just got from my graveyard to fuse the Buster Blader I just place in my hand with my Dark Magican, to form Dark Paladin (2900/2400)!" He announced as the same vortex opened up, only this time, it was Dark Magician and Buster Blader who entered. After a few moments, Dark Paladin stepped out the vortex.

"So that's the monster Yugi used at Battle City, right?" Syd asked Joey.

"The same monsta Yuge used to beat the snot outta Kaiba? Yeah that's the one." Joey confirmed.

"Thanks for confirming it for me, because that means that this trap card now won't go to waste!" Syd announced as she revealed her facedown card. It was Chthonian Polymer. "Chthonian Polymer allows me to take control of a Fusion Monster the moment it's fusion summoned. All it costs is a monster of my own, of course, so my Hieracosphinx's gotta go!" She said as Hieracosphinx was engulfed in flames. It might've went against her original Millennium Deck Strategy, but taking control of one of the Duel King's strongest monsters was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Especially one that can render magic cards useless, as Dark Paladin soon appeared on her side of the field.

Yugi gasped, "My Dark Paladin!"

"You mean, my Dark Paladin, Kid!" Syd smirked. "But I promise to take good care of him!"

Yugi sighed. "I'll end my turn by placing one card face down."

Syd drew a card. She was going to attack Yugi's Rapid-Fire Magician this turn, and she didn't have to worry about using any spell cards. Rapid-Fire Magician only got his effect if it was Yugi who activated spell cards, and with Dark Paladin, she could just negate them. "Sweet…" She smiled, "I'll play Premature Burial!" She said as her Life Points decreased…

Yugi: 7900

Syd: 5600

"After paying 800 Life Points, I can bring back any monster in my graveyard. Now please welcome back Hieracosphinx!" She announced as the bird-headed Sphinx reappeared on her side of the field. "And since I haven't officially summoned a monster yet, I'll place one monster facedown and move on to my battle phase. Hieracosphinx, attack Yugi's Rapid-Fire Magician!"

The bird-like Sphinx leaped into the air as it flew a bit before landing on top of the duel-scepter holding magician with a hard pounce, destroying him and some of Yugi's life points.

Yugi: 7100

Syd: 5600

"Now Dark Paladin, attack your former master directly! Mystic Sword Strike!" Syd announced as the Magician Swordsman fired a blast from his wand/sword hybrid at Yugi, lowering his life Points…

Yugi: 4200

Syd: 5600

"That's it for me. One more turn like this, and it's all over!" Syd smiled to herself. "I can't believe I'm actually going to beat the King of Games!"

Yugi drew a card. It was Kuriboh. If Syd attacked again, he could discard it and negate damage to his Life Points. However, whatever move he was planning to do would not happen, as before he can place a card on the field, the door suddenly opened.

"Oh man, somethin's 'bout to go down downstairs!" It was a young man dressed in fatigues.

Joey blinked. "What's up, Kev?"

"Somebody 'bout to get shot!" He said as Syd rolled her eyes.

"Again…" She sighed, "What happened this time?"

"Some rich kid's pissin' everybody off! He even knocked out Ten. Z!"

"Who does he think he is?" Syd asked, now angry. What right did some guy had to just show up at their place and act like he owned the damn place just because he has a large checkbook?

"This guy's callin' out for you, Black Flame!" Kev informed Joey.

"Oh lord…" Joey groaned, having a good idea where this was heading. Or more accurately, who was the "rich kid" he was talking about. "Was he wearin' a white sleeveless trench coat, glares at everyone, basically havin' a superiority complex?"

Kev blinked, "You know him, G?"

"If that person's who I think it is? Unfortunately…"

Yugi blinked. "Kaiba here?"

"Looks like it." Joey sighed. "C'mon, looks like we gotta save Kaiba's ass… again."

Yugi nodded. The duel would have to be postponed. "I just hope no violence resorts from this."

"That'll depend if Johnny Sunshine can keep his mouth closed."

"It's not Kaiba who concerns me." Yugi admitted as the four of them left the room and headed downstairs.

Syd assured, "Don't worry. They're basically just all talk! They won't really do anything… most of the time…"

**Back in the less dangerous part of Domino**

While Yugi and Joey were away, Tristan and company were hanging out at the game shop. Unfortunately for the Brunette, he was now… let's just say that he wished that he went with them instead of staying here. It wasn't like he was the only guy, Bakura was there as well. Unfortunately, so was Duke. Of course he would be there if Serenity was near a 20-mile radius of him. Speaking of Serenity, she was talking with Melody. His old crush. Just had to be his luck that his former and current crushes would be talking. He half-expected that it would've been about him. But he'd give him one thing: At least there were two girls who can prove to get alone with each other.

With Arisa and Téa, it was more like a mini-civil war than an argument. First it came to the forced friendly interactions. Then came the glares they gave each other. And finally came the insults. And he thought Kaiba and Joey hated each other!

"Why are you even here, _Arisa?_" Téa asked. "Shouldn't you be with your boyfriend?"

"What, it's not like Joey's my only friend, _Téa!_" The blonde retorted. "Yugi, Tristan, Serenity, and Bakura are my friends, too! Right?"

"Can't you find your own friends than stealing mine?"

"What's with the ownership? It's not like they have a tattoo that reads 'Property of Téa Gardner' bitch!"

"Don't call me a bitch you pint-sized whore!"

"Don't call me a pint-sized whore you judgmental piece of-!"

"Hey now girls, whoa!" Tristan held up his hands, playing referee just like he did for the past few hours. "Calm down a minute. You guys have been at each other's throats since we got there."

"Tell Miss Holier-than-thou over there the cut it first, Tristan." Arisa suggested.

"Tell the future inspiration of Beauty Pageants for the vertically-challenged to try to keep her language in check. To respect Mr. Moto!"

"Don't try to make me into the bad guy in all of this!"

"I don't have to do anything, you're doing so yourself."

"Let them go, Tristan." Duke advised. "It's like trying to stop Joey and Kaiba from going after each other's throats."

"I have to agree with Duke's statements. Téa and Arisa have so much hatred for each other that from us getting in the way we will only get into much more trouble than we bargained for." Bakura added his two cents.

"Besides, if they're going to fight, let's sell tickets and make a profit out of the whole thing. Maybe throw in a pool filled with Jello?"

_-Slap!-_

_-Slap!-_

Duke's head got jerked twice as Serenity and Melody glared at the creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters.

"Pervert!" They hissed at him.

* * *

The chapter was getting long so I thought that this was the most appropriate place to stop, y'all! Next chapter, Kaiba is only moments away from being shot. Will Yugi and Joey save him in time, or will they also end up being shot by the pissed-off regulars? 


	22. Guns, Crushes, and Violence

Here's the next chapter. A quick spoiler, we'll see the bonding of a few friends and the bonding of a new one. …Nah, I'm just kidding. It contains more hostility and violence and somebody gets shot! Who will it be? Find out!

* * *

**Chapter 21: **Guns, Crushes, and Violence

"So Tristan…"

"Umm… yeah Mel?" He replied, he had a bad feeling where this question was going. Just about everyone was looking at him, as if there was some joke going around that he wasn't in on. Duke, of course, wasn't helping things as he had a smirk on his face that clearly said that he was in it now. Serenity also had a look of interest.

"So tell me, how do you feel about Serenity?" Melody asked, adding a small hint of jealousy to her tone of voice as Tristan began to sweat.

"Yeah Tristan, tell Melody, _your first crush_, how you feel about Serenity, _your new crush_!" Duke "encouraged," placing as much emphasis on the "crush" statements as possible. He knew that Taylor was in a tight spot and whatever loss he had would be the Dungeon Dice Creator's gain. 'What will you do now, my friend?'

"A-a-about Serenity?" Tristan stammered a bit. "Well, I really like her as a friend."

"As a friend?" Serenity asked, feigning hurt. She knew it was mean to put so much pressure to him, but she just couldn't resist. After all, what better way to find out how a person really likes you than to be in the same room as him and his former crush? Especially when it came down to how he felt! "Only as just a friend?"

"Nonono Serenity… not just a friend, but more!"

"How much more?"

"A lot more." Tristan said as he mentally sighed, 'Great save, Taylor…' He then looked at Devlin who tried to look as innocent as possible, but he could see the smallest hint of a smirk on his face. Devlin was enjoying every moment of this, especially at his expense. "I like you surely a hell of a lot more than _Devlin_ does!" He stated as he then began to think. 'I wonder how his cheerleaders would feel if they knew he was crushing on someone else.'

"Please! What have you ever done that outranks anything I have?" Duke responded with a smirk. "I care more about Serenity with a quarter of my heart than you do with your entire body! Speaking of bodies, isn't that why you like her so much, hmm?"

"And how about the other ¾? Oh right, they're for your three cheerleaders! The girls that usually follow you around?" He asked.

"Cheerleaders?" Melody asked, as Duke began to sweat. Serenity didn't even know about the cheerleaders as she wasn't usually around the school. And now Taylor had to bring them out in the open as Serenity looked at him.

"You have your own cheerleaders, Duke?" She asked.

Bingo.

Tristan grew a smile on his face. Devlin was in for it now. "Why don't we give them a call? They'll be interested in knowing that they're going to be shafted." He suggested, much to the dismay of his rival. "Taye, can I borrow your cell?"

"Sure!" She handed him her pink cell as she gave a victorious look at Arisa, who just rolled her eyes.

"I'm just going to give them a call! After all, I think that they should have the right to know that they're getting shafted.

"But Tristan." Melody reminded. "You still never answered my question."

"I did, I just said that I liked Serenity a lot!" Tristan said. He should've known that he wouldn't have gotten out of that situation that easy.

"I mean, do you like her more than… than…" She then playfully pouted. "Me?"

"Mel, it's not that don't like you, it's…" Tristan shook his head. "Wait a damn minute, I thought you liked Bakura!"

The white-haired boy blushed a bit. "Oh my…"

"Well I did, but you know how crushes go!" The yellow-ribboned girl looked towards Bakura. "No offense."

"None taken."

"I was just hoping that maybe well… y'know…"

**Back Downtown**

"Ain't so high-and-mighty now are ya, Muthafucka?"

"Or should we say, Bruthafucka?"

Kaiba narrowed his eyes as he looked around. He was surrounded by, how many people? Just below 20. Half of them were armed while others were merely spectators and bystanders. And six of the armed half held guns while the rest just had knives and steel pipes! Out of all the places he could've gone, Wheeler just _had _to go to a place where you're more than likely to get killed. And just for the record, this is Wheeler's fault! All of it! The gay pedophile accusations, getting mugged, all of it!

He scoffed, "How uncivilized…"

"Civilized ain't 'bout to be yo concern where yo' punk ass is goin', Rich boy!" A man, black as the night and dressed in his newly-bought Rockawear gear, threatened as he slightly pulled back on the trigger on his Barretta. "Man, you ass is about to go missin' fool! You know who gonna find you? Some old man fishin!'"

"So that's how you people do things. When someone proves to be superior to you in everyway-intelligence, class, _vocabulary_- you resort to violence, let alone threatening another person's life.

"Brah's gotta deathwish…"

"You know that my limo's just outside, and all I have to do is say the word, and he'll have every cop in the city surround the entire area! I've been having a rough week and unless you want to end up just like, in a slim-to-none chance, the rest of your 'homies' and 'peeps,' I suggest you drop your weapons and get the hell out of my way.

"You ain't gonna do shit!"

"You obviously haven't realized how much power I hold in the city. I can buy and sell each and everyone of your sorry asses if I wanted to!

"Kaiba!"

The brunette turned towards the stairs as his eyes narrowed as they were about to have four more visitors. "It's about time you showed up."

Joey rolled his eyes. "Oh god, what the hell are ya doin', Kaiba? Stalkin' me now?"

Yugi's eyes went wide at the guns he saw. They were pointed directly at Kaiba. When they mentioned Kaiba being in trouble, they didn't say it was to this extreme.

"Now Wheeler, you'll give me the rematch I deserve!" Kaiba declared. "Duel me!"

"…" Joey narrowed his eyes. "Yer about a second away from becomin' Swiss Cheese, an' you want A FUCKIN' DUEL?"

"Congratulations, your brain actually works."

"You know this punk?" Ten. Z, having just revived, asked the blonde.

"I know he's a straight-up pain in the ass!" Joey said.

"So first he's a gay pedophile, then he's into that incest shit, and now you're sayin' that this guy's a fuckin' stalker too?"

"WHAT?" Yugi and Joey exclaimed at those accusations.

"Great…" Kaiba rolled his eyes. Leave it to that mongrel to make things worst. If he didin't know any better, that chump was enjoying seeing the torment he was in. At least Yugi was there. He knew that Yugi wouldn't let him suffer from these low-class- for-life idiots.

"NO, Kaiba's not like that at all!" Yugi said to the crowd. "You have him all wrong?"

"So what'chu tryin' to say, Little Man?" Ten. Z asked.

"Kaiba's no way a pedophile or into incest!"

"The hell he ain't! Have you ever seen that picture he got of some little boy?"

"And I got one in the locket,too!" Kaiba basically ripped the duel monster card-like locket from his neck as he then showed the picture of a younger Mokuba back at the orphanage.

"Er…Kaiba? Yer not doin' yerself any favas!" Joey informed.

"Shut the hell up Wheeler! At least Yugi's trying to help! You're basically adding more fuel to the fire for these idiots!"

"Don't be callin' my friends idiots! 'Specially when you're about to get shot by them! You've been followin' me all day now, and after that blimp bullshit?" He threw his hands up. "I don't know why the hell I'm even trying to help you ass… _again_!"

"That's his picture of his little brother. Seto and Mokuba Kaiba only have each other for family." Yugi explained. "Mokuba has a locket just like Kaiba's with his picture in there."

"S'true." Joey nodded. "Kaiba's a straight up jackass, but he ain't gay or into any of that sick shit. He's more likely to walk up to some gay couple and yell 'Queerin' doesn't make the world work!' He's so much into his machines that he doesn't even have time for anything else. I haven't even _heard_ about him dating at all, let alone having sex!"

Kaiba narrowed his eyes at the blonde. "Thanks for the backhanded help of yours. Now, duel me!"

"For the last time, Kaiba, I'm not duelin' ya white-collah'd ass! I'm retired!"

"You're just saying that because you're afraid to duel me?" Kaiba gave him a soft smirk.

"Afraid?" Joey raised an eyebrow.

"That's right? You're afraid that I'll humiliate you in front of your friends and prove that you're just a whimpering dog, as you always were!"

"Kaiba, the only reason why you want the rematch so bad is because I let you win!" Joey retorted.

"Please? A duelist of my caliber losing to some 3rd-rate losing chump like you? You're even more delusional than I thought." Kaiba taunted. He knew he was lying but provoking him to duel him was basically his only option.

"If that was the case, then why the hell are ya comin' all the way to'a neighborhood ya don't even like, riskin' yerself gettin' shot or the least a beatdown, all to duel someone you basically can easily crush. Since basically you have nothin' to gain!" Joey countered as Kaiba began to sweat a bit. Since when was Wheeler ever this smart? Usually he'd snap and storm all the way home to get his deck, ready to duel. "And you wouldn't be stalkin' 'em or trying to insult 'em to duel ya with a blimp like ya did today, genius! Basically, ya risked gettin' killed for nothin'!"

"Oohhhh!" Kaiba was now annoyed as the people around him just "Oohhhed" again and again. Will they ever shut up?

"Screw this place, I'm leaving." Kaiba turned around as he began walk away. However, through the door, a man wearing a black do-rag and a blue windsuit walked in as he held up a gun. "What now…"

"Oh, so ya think yer all that rollin' up in here, disrespetin' my gal!" He said with a gruff voice, much to the frustration to everyone.

"Whoa! Calm down!"

"Man Tyrell, s'wrong with you?"

"This fool acting like he's all that. Tryin' to flaunt his shit to my girl, treat her like she sum slut!"

Kaiba rolled his eyes. Where these idiots coming out of the woodworks? "A gun…how pathetically desperate. You know that I can have you thrown in jail for this. But knowing you, this probably won't be the first time."

Tyrell just glared at the CEO. "Man, you be asking for a death wish!" He declared as clocked his gun.

"Look Tyrell, just calm down!" That woman, that same woman who had slapped Kaiba in the face, came up to her boyfriend, trying to calm him girl.

"Relax Rika, I got this! I'm 'bout to teach Rich Boy here not to fuck with us!"

"Man just let it go! He ain't worth it!"

"Let him do it! The chump's basically wanting to go to jail, or back to jail, I should say…

"Shut up, Kaiba! Yer just makin' things worse!" Joey advised.

"Wheeler, I'm not afraid of this mindless twit! Knowing him he's probably was too wasted to actually think about the situation he's in, that is if he could in the first place."

"Kaiba don't…" Yugi tried to talk reason with him.

"Save it, Yugi! This chump's asking for it."

"Oh so that's how it is?" Tyrell shouted. "FINE, DIE MUTHFUCKA!"

"Oh man…"

"I don't think so!" Kaiba pulled out a card from his trench coat as he threw it at Tyrell, the sharp edge of the card hitting his hand was enough for Tyrell to drop the gun!

"Shit…" He rubbed his hand as he glared at the brunette. "Oh, now you wanna throw cards now?" He hissed as he proceeded to take out a switchblade. "TRY KNOCKIN' THIS MUTHAFUCKA!" He screamed as he proceeded to rush towards Kaiba, but the CEO dodged him as with one conveniently placed foot, Tyrell tripped over and landed on the ground.

"Typical street thug…" Kaiba scoffed as he began to walk towards Wheeler and Yugi. "Wheeler, don't think that this is over! Not by a long shot!"

Joey scoffed, "Whatever, but I'm still ain't duelin' ya! I'm retired, Genius!"

"You'll duel me, Wheeler!" Kaiba vowed as he walked away. "You'll duel me, one way or another."

"Keep convincing yerself, Kaibs…" Joey rolled his eyes as he looked toward Yugi and Syd. "You guys gotta duel to finish?"

Yugi and Syd nodded, their duel disks still in hand as their score was still set as it was previously.

Joey offered, "You guys are welcome to watch! After all, s'not everyday you'd get to see the King of Games duel in person!"

"Man Wheeler, I gotta say that I envy you!" Kev admitted. "You've been able to cross the line that none of us would've been able too! What's yo secret, G?"

"I'm just lucky." The blonde admitted. "If I haven't met Yugi, I probably would've been dead knowing half the shit I've done back in the day!"

"Enough ass kissing and bragging, boys! I still have a duel to win!" Syd reminded.

Yugi nodded, "Sure, but don't celebrate your victory prematurely. In every duel, there's always one card that can turn it around."

"Man maybe I should get into duelin'!" Ten Z considered. After all, if someone like Joey can do it and managed to keep out of trouble… most of the time, why not he?

More people decided to come up stairs to watch the already-started duel to be concluded. And for Kaiba? He decided that he had enough of this place for one day, as he started to head for the exit. However…

"SHIT!"

Kaiba looked back as he saw Tyrell back on his feet.

"So, you think you can make a bitch outta me?" He hissed as Kaiba rolled his eyes.

"Don't you have someone else to annoy?" He replied.

"Throw another card! Throw another fuckin' card!" Tyrell challenged. As Kaiba glared at him. Doesn't this guy knew when to give up!"

"Tyrell, just let it go!" Syd said.

"Shut the fuck up, bitch!"

"HEY!" Joey snapped. Calling Syd a bitch was uncalled for, especially when Tyrell was the one at fault.

"Fuck you, Wheeler! This fucka here disrespect me!"

"I disrespect everyone, get over it!" Kaiba turned around and walked away. This chump was just wasting his time. He had better things to do than to deal with this crap.

"Don' you fucking walk away from me, you pathetic piece of shit!" Tyrell rushed towards Kaiba looking to tackle him down, but unfortunately for him, the CEO sidestepped as he was left to fall flat on his face – literally. Talk about predictable…

"Don't bother getting up…" Kaiba turned around as he then remembered something… "Wheeler, I like to have a word with you!"

"Now what…" Joey sighed as Kaiba walked over.

"Since when were you going to inform me that one of your chump friends stole Mokuba's shoes?"

"What!" Joey blinked. "Mokuba got jumped?"

"Don't play dumb with me! You know damn well about the shoes that were up there!"

"You mean those Adidas?" Joey blinked. "Those were his?"

"THEY WERE FUCKING BRAND NEW SNEAKERS THAT JUST GOT MUGGED FROM HIM!" Kaiba yelled. "AND YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW?"

"I didn't know Mokuba even owned a pair of those kicks! S'not like I see the kid everyday!"

"Come on! You actually believe any of these idiots could fit a size 8?"

"There're plenty of people who could have a kid brother. For instance, y'know Little Nicky? He basically comes down here just to start trouble. I just thought that he finally got what he had coming!" Joey explained as the others nodded in agreement except for Yugi, of course. He was starting to see why Joey wasn't exactly excited about bringing him here. Not only could you get hurt, but you could also get mugged as well.

"Well, somebody's going to pay for this!" Kaiba reminded. "Because those-"

"Oh lord, if it's about money, the price you paid for it is just pocket change to you, right?"

"IT'S NOT THE COST, IT'S THE PRINCIPLE!"

"Yeah, but y'gotta admit they're not different from yer average pair of kicks!" Joey explained. It appeared that once again, he'd have to be the calm one while Kaiba lost it.

"I'LL GIVE YOU KICKS, A WHOLE LOT OF THEM UP THE-!"

"DIE MUTHAFUCKA!"

Kaiba turned around as he saw that Tyrell had recovered and picked up the previously-dropped gun as he instantly fired a trigger! He knew that he should've just left and confront Wheeler about the sneaker incident later, but his little brother got jumped and he, for one was not going to stand for it! Now he was about to get shot! However, he soon found himself hitting the dark carpeted floor, for one reason or another as he then saw a crowd began to form near him but not around him…

"Man Tyrell, what the hell?"

"I can't believe you shot 'em!"

"Somebody call 911!"

Kaiba quickly got up as he then proceeded to go through the crowd. Someone got shot, and if it wasn't him, than who did? Who's the idiot who took that bullet that was meant for him? He heard more people reacting to this action.

"Tyrell, you better get yo ass on outta here, now! Before I shoot yo ass myself!"

"Just leave, Tyrell! You've already done enough for one day!"

"Fuckin' dumbass!"

Kaiba had finally reached to the center of the crowd as he saw _him_. The one who took the hit, as blood came out from the wound near his abdomen! Yugi was frozen in fear, as his eyes were wide as possible. He figured half of these idiots have at least witnessed a shooting at least twice, but as far as he knew, Yugi was the most sheltered and annoying naïve person he's ever met. But that person who saved him, why did it have to be _him_? Out of all people here, it just had to be _him_! The last person he'd _ever_ wanted to owe his life to! When eye contact was made, he heard these last words before he went unconscious…

"…still… the same… jerk… not a damn 'thank you…' fuckin' elitist piece of shit…"

As Joey fell unconscious, Kaiba glared at everyone! "I'm going to call the ambulance! Unless you all want to get into deeper shit than you are now, you'll be smart to leave now!" He said icily, taking out his mobile as he proceeded to call an ambulance. Everyone went to evacuate the soon-to-be scene of the crime scene with the exception of Syd and Yugi, of course.

"Joey…?" Yugi desperately called out to his friend, but he didn't respond. "Joey…? JOEY!"

"Oh no…" Syd quickly jumped down. "JOEY YOU CAN'T DIE! YOU JUST CAN'T!" She screams, tears almost forming in her eyes. "YOU HAVE TO PUT YOUR HORUS LEVEL EIGHT ON THE LINE IN A DUEL AGAINST _ME_ FIRST!"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?" Kaiba screamed. Ignoring the fact that she mentioned Joey having a card that would be impossible for a duelist of his status, or lack thereof, to have as he went back to finish the call. "The ambulance will be here as fast as they can…"

Syd scoffed, "Please, like any ambulance driver in their right mind would come by here!"

Kaiba sighed, "You obviously don't know who I am…" He stated. "If they're smart they'll get here or I'll have them fired. Now see if you can at least stop the bleeding.

Syd nodded as she grabbed a rag from the top an old chair as she placed it on top of the wound as Yugi just looked at his friend. His expression was blank and there wasn't any sign of life. Tears began to form in his eyes…

**Back at the Game Shop**

This was basically the toughest decision in Tristan's life. On one hand, he really did like Melody at one point in time, and truthfully he still had feelings for her. At times he often wondered what would happen if they actually went out with each other. They would've made a great couple. But then again, that was then, and his crush, or was it love for Serenity, was now. They've proven that they had great chemistry together and he was crushed when he had found out that he was just in the "friend zone" with her. It was then when he made his decision.

He sighed, "Melody, it's true that I had feelings for you. I had a huge crush on you before you left, and when you turned me down I was hurt. Hell, when I found out that you had a crush on Bakura, I was angry! But that was okay, you liked someone else and you have that right. I understand that perfectly. But that was then, and this is now. While I still have feelings for you, the truth is-"

Whatever he was going to say, it was interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing. "I'll get it." Tristan stood up to get the phone as Duke smirked.

"He's weaseling out of it." He declared. The phone call was all too convenient, and Taylor was so quick to get the phone. He knew that he still had feelings for Melody but didn't want to admit them in front of Serenity! What a pussy… He then saw Tristan come back, holding the white cordless phone in his hand, with a blank expression on his face. "So what was that call about, Tristan?" He asked but the spike-head didn't respond. "Hey, Spike-headed Monkey Boy! I'm talking to you!"

"Shut the hell up, Devlin…" Tristan simply said, not an amount of anger hinted in his voice at all. Only…sadness…

Arisa asked, "Tristan what's wrong?"

"Yeah?" Melody added. "What's with you?"

"… Joey got shot." He simply said.

"WHAT?" Both girls exclaimed.

"You can't be serious!" Duke added as Serenity looked like she was about to break down. Having just found out that her brother had just been shot.

"…why…how…" She shook her as she quickly ran out the door.

"Serenity wait!" Tristan called out for her. He could understand how she felt.They all could onlyhope that Joey would be okay, for everyone's sake, especially Serenity's.

* * *

Next chapter, Joey's in the hospital and family and friends are all there…well…almost all of them. Will Joey survive? And what about Yugi. For someone who's never witnessed violence to this extreme, let alone someone getting shot, how will it affect him? Find out next chapter. 


	23. Hospital Blues

Happy New Years to ya all, and for my New Years Gift, I give to you this chapter, finished at 3:00 in the morning. That shows how much I love you guys. Plus, I've been working on my version of R.Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" but with a Yugioh Twist. Right now I'm thinking if I should post it or not. Anyway, enjoy this chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 23: **Hospital Blues

It was a hard time tonight, as at the Domino City Hospital, friends were all gather together for this troubling time. For some reason in some way, Joey had been shot. But they all knew one thing. It had to do with the underground duels that he went to. And worse of all was that Yugi was with him! He could've gotten shot himself or worse, but miraculously he was okay.

Tristan sighed to himself. Out of all the idiotic things Joey has done in the past, getting into fights with Kaiba, walking into fights with the entire gang, just to name a few. But this topped them all. It was bad enough that he had to get involved in underground duels where you're basically putting your life on the line. But the fact that Yugi also could've gotten shot didn't help at all. And now look where that idiot ended up? He's in the room while trying to examine the wound. His next concern was Serenity! As overprotective, ridiculously anyway, as he was, he really cared a lot about her! And Serenity? She basically shown that she could be independent opinionated and he had a huge crush, but let's face it: Serenity lived for her brother. And if he had to die… he didn't think what would happen then.

Duke was worried as well, but his thoughts were more on Serenity. He knew that Joey could walk up from this. After all, he got struck directly on the head by a lightning bolt at Battle City. But what if he didn't wake up! Serenity would go crazy! He last thing he needed was to have a sweet girl like Serenity go crazy. Speaking of her, she wasn't here. She called her mom to tell her the news. She said that she'd be right there, but that was 45 minutes ago! She called her at work again, but they said that she had left 30 minutes ago! Feeling that something was wrong, Serenity rushed home. For a girl her age, she did not need to have this much stress.

Téa sat on the bench, legs crossed. Right now, if he wasn't unconscious, she had the right mind to go into that room and smack Joey a few times! They all knew that the duels that he went to were dangerous, yet he just had to go there, and then he brought Yugi with him? Two of the guys she cared so much about, risking their life for some duel. But she had to admit, it wasn't the first time. There was Battle City… and Duelist Kingdom! Damn it, why is it the more-dangerous duels that attract them. But this time, the fate of the world wasn't on the line.

Téa blinked, now that she was thinking about it, where was Yugi? Didn't he went with Joey inside of the ambulance? She turned towards Yugi's grandfather. "Mr. Moto! Do you know where Yugi's gone?"

Solomon shook his head. "No Téa, but I'm sure he'll be here."

"But where is he?" Arisa asked. "Wasn't he with Joey when he got shot?"

"Yeah…" Melody crossed her arms. "For someone who's supposed to be his friend, Yugi's making himself scarce since it's happened." She looks around. "And hasn't Serenity come back yet?"

"Her and her mum are probably having trouble with Traffic." Bakura suggested. "It can be hectic at this hour."

"So, did they say anything?"

They all turned around to see a girl with red hair in pigtails approach them, like them she was just as worried.

"They said that he's lost a lot of blood, but it wasn't infected thank god." Melody explained. "Er…so who are you anyway?"

"Name's Syd. A friend of Joey's." She explained as Arisa raised an eyebrow. Was she a friend, or was she a friend with benefits?

"So, 'Syd?' What's up?" Arisa asked.

"It's been better…" She sighed, "I can't believe that idiot tried to shoot him…"

"What do you mean tried to shoot him?" Téa asked. "He tried and succeeded in shooting Joey, right?"

"No, Joey just got in the way."

"So who did this punk tried to shoot? Yugi?"

Syd shook her head. "It was Kaiba. Tyrell, that fucking dumbass… He tried to shoot Kaiba and Joey pushed him out the way, taking the bullet for him! From what was said before he went unconscious, there was a lot of tension between the two."

"Tension is just saying it mildly!" Tristan scoffed, "Figures Kaiba would piss someone off. Just what the hell was he doing there anyway?"

Arisa narrowed her eyes. "I knew it! I could just feel that Kaiba had something to do with this! And for what? To get Joey to duel him? Bastard…"

Syd looked around. "Say, where's Yugi?"

"We were going to ask you? Did you know where he went?" Téa asked.

"Not at all!" Syd explained. "When they were loading Joey in the ambulance, Yugi just disappeared. Anyway…" She reached down into small black case, a case thar usually held her deck as she took out a card. "When you see him, could you give him this? He sorta forgot it when he left."

Téa took the card from her and looked at it. It was his Dark Paladin monster card.

"We were dueling and it got interrupted by what was happening downstairs with Kaiba."

Téa looked back at the girl. "Thank you Syd."

She nodded. "No problem. Now I gotta go! If my parents found out that I left, I'd be in even more trouble. I'm supposed to be grounded for staying out past curfew. "

Tristan nodded, "Thanks! We'll let ya know how Joey's dong!"

"You mind your parents now, Young Lady!" Solomon said to the redhead.

Syd nodded before turning away to head home. "Don't die on me Joey Wheeler! You still have to put your Horus on the line against me!" She said softly. While it was true that she did care about him, but she was owed a duel with her Elemental Mistress Doriado and his Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8 on the line, and she was going to make sure that she got it. But not to the same extremes Kaiba used…

**Wheeler's Residence**

It was a long walk from the hospital, but Serenity made it home. Maybe she should've waited for that cab, but she had to get home quickly. What if her mom hadn't had made it yet? Or worse, did something happen to her? But her red Toyota was there, so she had to be home, right? As she slid the key through the slot on the doorknob, the door opened…

As the auburn-haired girl walked in, she looked around. "Mama?" She called. "Mama where are you?"

"I'm in here, Serenity!" A more mature voice called from the office of the four-bedroom apartment. It was quiet, so Serenity could hear the typing from a computer.

She entered the office, and much to her shock, she saw her mother typing away on the computer! Shouldn't she have been the first one in the hospital. "Mama, what are you doing here? Why aren't you at the hospital?" She asked.

"I'm swamped with work Serenity!" The older woman explained. "I have an important case tomorrow and I can't be distracted right now!"

"But Mama, Joey's in the hospital! Why can't we go!"

"Serenity, what I'm doing is helping Joseph!" She said, but Serenity had a different opinion. "I'm defending a victim of a robbery which resulted in her daughter being shot. If we win, the murderer would be sent to prison for around 20 years, and there'll be another murderer off the streets."

Serenity was getting annoyed with this, the fact that her mother's lack of concern didn't make her feel any better either. This was ridiculous! Her son had just been shot and instead of going to the hospital, her mother is at home working on her damn computer! "I don't understand you! I mean can't this wait until later?"

Mrs. Wheeler sighed, "Look Serenity, I'm sorry but I just can't deal with this now! I can't just drop everything over something as ridiculous as this! You know that your brother's always getting into these fights! Maybe his attitude, or his mouth rather, got him in a situation where he'll actually learn something for once!"

Serenity couldn't believe what she was hearing! Not only doesn't she apparently care about her own son's health, apparently she's actually glad that he got shot and could possibly! She was about to lose it! "How could you say that, Mother?" She began to feel teary-eyed. "Your own son is in the hospital right now, fighting for his life! And instead of acting like a mother and at least worry about him! You're at home typing on your computer worried about your fucking case!"

"Don't you talk that way to me, young lady, especially in that tone of voice!" She snapped at her. Serenity was starting to act disrespectful, using those obscene words. Just like her troublemaking pain-in-the-ass brother, just like that deadbeat bum of a father of hers. And she for one didn't like it at all!

"Why shouldn't I? You're supposed to be the mother here and you're acting like a spoiled brat! Your own son is in the hospital and you don't care! You don't fucking care at all!"

"WELL HE'S NO SON OF MINE!" She screamed, as Serenity gasped in shock, in betrayal!

'So the truth comes out…' Serenity began to shake, if one didn't knew any better, she was about to began foaming at the mouth. 'The truth finally comes out… Joey was right…' Everything Joey said about his so-called mother. How she didn't really care about him, how she just took him in because he felt sorry for him. He felt justified in his feelings and now, Serenity saw for herself that "justified" would more than an understatement. That was when she decided to let it out. "IF HE'S NO SON OF YOURS, THAN YOU'RE NO MOTHER OF MINE, YOU BITCH!"

_-slap!-_

Tears began to pour from her eyes as Serenity felt a red mark on the side of her face. At that moment, her mother saw how hurt her daughter was. She didn't even knew what came over her to slap her like that, but it was all too late. "Serenity… Serenity, baby I'm sorry…" Far too late…

Serenity shook her head as she turned around to run away, but her mother grabbed her arm.

"Don't you run away from me young lady!"

Serenity slapped her arm away. "I hate you… She sobbed, "I HATE YOU!" She walked towards her room and locked the door. This woman…no…this she-devil couldn't have been her mother! Not at all!

She grabbed her backpack as she began to gather a few clothes to wear. Shoes, skirts, pants, shorts, shirts, anything she could use for the next couple of days. Or was it weeks? Just as long as it'll last her, just as long as she could go anywhere, anywhere but here!"

"SERENITY WHEELER YOU OPEN THIS DOOR THIS INSTANT!" Her mother called out, but it was all in vain. Serenity wasn't going to open the door for her. No matter how much she screamed and shouted, it wasn't going to erase the heartbreaking revelation she just had. That she didn't care about Joey at all, and apparently she didn't care about her either.

After she was done packing, Serenity swung the door open, but did it hit her mother? She didn't really cared as her goal was to leave this place and not turn back. As she made it to the door, she felt the hand. That same hand of that so-called "mother" who have betrayed not only her brother, but now her as well! She narrowed her eyes. "Get your hand off me!" She hissed.

"Serenity, please don't go! I didn't mean it! I'm sorry!" Her mother sobbed. "I'm so sorry… please forgive me…"

Serenity managed to calm down. After all, if Joey, of all people, could lately, why couldn't she? With a sigh, she said. "Do you remember when we left seven years ago?" She nodded, as Serenity continued. "You told me that Joey would've been ok with Daddy when we left. When you basically drove away as far away as possible from him! I realized now that that was just a lie. Lately, you've been telling lies to me…" Serenity tried to fight it, but she couldn't help but break down as tears began to pour from her eyes. "How do I know that this is not just another one of them?" And with those words, Serenity opened the front door and left. Leaving her mother behind as she headed back to the hospital where her friends, and the only true family she had left, were.

**Back at the Hospital**

Time was going by, but it was hardly noticeable as Tristan and company just sat there in wait. Joey was still unconscious as Serenity didn't come back. And nobody knew where the hell Yugi was through all of this! Some of them began to worry, while the others were annoyed. His best friend was at the hospital and he at least could've had the decency to show up for a few minutes.

And now Serenity was gone for about an hour! It was bad enough that one friend was in the hospital and another was God knows where, the thought of another suddenly going missing was too much to take for one night. It was as if someone was either playing a cruel joke or cursed them.

The door opened, but it wasn't from the room where Joey was currently at but from the main lobby, as the person who walked in was not Serenity or Yugi, but someone who one could say would probably be the last person at least one person wanted to see…

Arisa turned to see who the arrival was and her eyes narrowed at the sight of _him_. The reason why Joey got shot in the first place! Why the hell was he here anyway? 'Probably came to gloat and make fun of Joey…' She thought bitterly.

"How's Wheeler." Kaiba asked coolly.

"We're not sure, not that you actually care or anything." Tristan replied, resentment noticeable in his voice.

"He's lost a lot of blood." Téa explained. "We're not sure if he'll make it."

Kaiba closed his eyes as he let out a scoff, "Served him right."

Melody glared at the CEO, "That's a mean thing to say!"

Kaiba didn't even bother to look at the violet-haired girl. "If I wanted your opinions, I'd asked for them…what was your name again?"

Melody rolled her eyes. 'He's not worth it…' She mentally said to herself repeatedly to calm her down.

Kaiba looked around. "Looks like his family didn't even bother to show up. I wouldn't blame them. I'd be ashamed too if I was related to a chump like him."

"Kaiba, how dare you!" Téa glared at him. That comment was more than just uncalled for. She wanted to just smack him, especially since it was all because he wanted to save his life! However, someone else took that liberty as Kaiba was nearly tackled down by an enraged blonde.

"FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!" Arisa screamed at the CEO as she continuously punched him. "YOU'RE THE FUCKING REASON JOEY'S IN HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

"Arisa, calm down!" Tristan said to the blonde as Kaiba glared at her. However, there was no way stopping Arisa now, as Kaiba's comments had made her lost it.

"JOEY FOR SOME REASON DECIDED THAT YOUR LIFE WAS WORTH SAVING AND NOW YOU'RE STILL INSULTING HIM? YOU'RE STILL MOCKING HIM? IT SHOULD'VE BEEN YOU THAT GOT SENT TO THE HOSPITAL! IT SHOULD BE YOU THAT'S IN THAT ROOM RIGHT NOW!" Her punches became weaker and weaker as she soon broke down in uncontrollable sobs. "It's not fair… I want my Joey back…"

"Damn…" Tristan and Duke both mouthed silently, but was it because of how nuts Arisa became, or was it because they secretly wanted to be the one to jump Kaiba. Needless to say, Joey better wake up from this, otherwise they would have a 5'4+" emotionally-unstable girl on their hands.

Kaiba pushed the blonde off of him, "I never asked for that chump to save my life! I told him once and I told him again, even though death I'll never ask for his help and as far as I'm concerned, I'll never needed. Especially knowing whatever help he oh-so "generously" offers me, it'd be backhanded anyway! Ever since day one he's made smart assed remarks about me! He always talked a lot of shit, and never been able to back it up! And besides, if the roles were reversed Wheeler would feel the same way about me."

"And how would you know that?" Melody asked.

"You want to know his last words before he dropped dead? He called me an elitist piece of shit before he went unconscious all because I didn't thank him for saving my life, when I didn't even ask him to! Yeah, that really shows he cares."

"And you still didn't thank him, huh? Figures…"

"Even if I did, it's not like he'd hear me anyway!"

"Bullshit…" Arisa rolled her eyes. "You wouldn't thank him for anything if he was the last man on earth. For as long as I known you, you always had something against him!"

"Whatever, I'm leaving!" Kaiba went to walk away, not wanting to take anything more from this pint-sized halfwit. But turned to her for one last time. "Oh, and if you want to blame anyone, blame the chump who's laying in the bed right now. Just think about it, if he would've just dueled me like I asked, none of you geeks would even be here right now."

As Kaiba took his leave, Arisa went to unzip her platform boot to throw it at him but Téa stopped her.

"He's not worth it…" She said to him, but silently admitted, 'But it doesn't seem like a bad idea to do to him…'

**Kame Game Shop, 10:45PM**

It had been a long night at the hospital. Joey was still unconscious so visiting was out of the question. Everyone else had gone home. As much as they were willing to stay the night, they still had school the next morning and a friend in pain wasn't a good enough reason to be behind of a day's worth of schoolwork.

As Solomon Moto, dressed in his pajamas saved for his nightcap, prepared to go to bed, his thoughts changed to Yugi. Since the news of Joey being shot, Yugi had more or less disappeared. He worried greatly for his grandson as walked towards Yugi's room.

The door was closed as Solomon knocked on the door. "Yugi, are you in here?" He called but no answer. "Yugi!" He called again, but still no answer. He then place a hand on the doorknob as it doesn't appear to be locked. Usually he didn't invade into Yugi's room, but do to these circumstances, he had to make an exception.

As the door opened, the only light that was in the room was the moonlight from outside. However, much to his relief, dressed in his sky blue, star-print pajamas, Yugi sat on top of his bed, knees brought close to his chest as dried tears can be seen on his face.

"Yugi," His grandfather said to him as he walked closer to him. "We've been worried sick. Where have you been?"

It was questionable if he even heard what his grandfather had said, as Yugi just said repeatedly, "…It's my fault… It's all my fault…"

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Next chapter the angst continues as Yugi talks to his grandfather. Also, what will become of Serenity, as she basically runs away so where will she go? Find out in the next chapter! 


	24. Later That Night

Here's the next chapter. Right now, I'm on a hot streak as I'm having ideas pouring out of my head in this story and I want to keep writing. Here's hoping that this well doesn't dry up.

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**Chapter 23: **Later That Night…

Solomon Moto was worried. It was already worrisome enough that since the news of Joey being shot had been spread, Yugi hasn't been seen or heard from. Now, it appeared that he's been in his room, curled into a ball, all alone all this time.

"Yugi, are you okay?" The elderly man asked, concern on his face.

"It's all my fault…" The boy simply said. "It's all my fault…"

"What's your fault?" Solomon asked. What was it that Yugi was basically beating himself for? He shook his head, it couldn't be! "Yugi, you're not blaming yourself for Joey being shot, are you?"

"It is my fault Grandpa…" He admitted. "Don't try to say that it's not."

"It's not Yugi! You're beating yourself over something that you had no control over."

"DAMNIT GRANDPA, STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR ME!" Yugi screamed which shocked Solomon. Never did he have ever seen Yugi angry, much less to this extreme. He wondered what had happened. Tristan told him that they went to a bad part of town looking for duels. He already made it a point to talk to Joey later about this, when he was better, but that wasn't the case. The most important thing was Yugi's well being at the moment.

Tears began to pour down from his eyes. "Can't you see Grandpa? It is my fault! I was the one who wanted Joey to take me there in the first place. Joey tried to warn me not to go, but I wouldn't listen. I just couldn't resist a duel, no matter how dangerous it was. I mean, I've faced worst, right? How bad could those people be? But I found out…" He sniffed, "I found out… just how cruel things over there really were. Then Kaiba came, and everyone was angry. One of them went to shoot Kaiba, but Joey pushed him out of the way." Yugi buried his head into his knees as he began to sob again. "It's my fault, Grandpa. It's all my fault."

Solomon watched his grandson cried as he began to feel so helpless. Despite all he's already gone through up until now, he had managed still maintain his innocence about the world. He couldn't help but blame Joey, if just a little, for the way he was now. Joey's proven to be a nice guy and, when he wasn't lazy, could do well in anything he applied to if he put effort to it, duel monsters being one example, but let's face it: Joey was basically raised on the streets and was probably used to such unfortunate events such as gang wars and riots and wondered if him getting shot was really the first time. Up until recently he was prone to anger and violence. He suspected that his friends, his sister, and his new girlfriend were the cause of that change. Speaking of Arisa, he had saw her broke down and snapped at Seto Kaiba at the hospital. He began to worry about the girl, if that was any indication of how she was like if Joey wasn't around to keep her from going out of control, he prayed to never see how she was like if the fair possibility of Joey dying became a reality. The only thing he could do now was to embrace his grandson, ensuring him that everything would be fine! "Yugi, we'll find this Tyrell and bring him to justice." He assured. "He won't get away with this."

"Don't…" He said, much to Solomon's shock.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't tell me that everything's going to be okay, when it's not!" Yugi said. "So what if they do catch Tyrell? Who's saying that they won't stop someone else shooting another one of my friends? And before the ambulance came, Syd told me how none of cops would even bother coming around here, seeing that it was pointless in dealing with, as she called it, 'a lost cause.' It's like the government take one step forward and two steps back. They hardly, if at all, care about what's happening to everyone, no matter where they live, no matter what their income is. Now I'm starting to realize why Joey hates cops, not because he used to get in trouble with them a lot, but because they don't care! All they want is an easy payday and an open and shut case."

"Yugi…"

"Please Grandpa… I used to believe in our national justice system, that 'To serve and protect' was the police's code of honor. Please, don't tell me any stories anymore…" As Yugi said those last words, he turned around and before asleep. Solomon Moto couldn't help but feel worried for his Grandson. This was a tough time indeed.

**Gardner Residence**

As it began to rain, Téa was placing her school uniform on the hook on her door for tomorrow. It had been a long day for all of them. It was getting late and the doctors weren't going to allow visitors anytime soon so they went home to get some sleep, and prepare for school the next morning. However, she began to worry if Joey would ever wake up from this. Last she heard, he had still didn't wake up, and when he finally did, she was going to smack him a few times for not only going there and nearly get himself killed, but to bring Yugi into this as well.

Speaking of her shorter friend, she didn't even have any idea where he could've been through all of this. He must've felt terrible, and why wouldn't he? He just saw one of his closest friends shot by some idiot for one reason or another. It was safe to say that after all of this, Yugi, the Yugi she's known for basically forever was gone, and that he would never be the same again.

As she heard the doorbell ring, Téa blinked. "Who could it be at this hour?" She wondered. Dressed in a white sports bra and gym shorts, she went downstairs to see who was crazy enough to be out at this hour. Luckily her parents were so tired that the couldn't hear it, otherwise she'd probably be in trouble as, with the odds being slim-to-none, whoever it was at the door was probably for her.

As she made it down the stairs, she went to the door before opening it. When she saw who it was, her eyes were in shock. "Serenity?"

The auburn-haired girl carried her pink backpack, as she appeared to be soaking wet. "Téa, could I please spend the night wit you?" She asked.

"What happened to you?" She asked, noting the wet sneakers, socks, shorts, shirt, and jacket. "Why aren't you at home?"

"I didn't want to stay with that bitch so I left!" She said bitterly. Téa had noticed the dried tearstains under her reddened eyes. Serenity must have been crying. "I had to walk all the way back to the hospital and no one was there. When I said that I was going to spend the night here, they threatened to call her if I didn't leave so I came here. You were the closest near the hospital."

"But your mom must be so worried!" Téa explained. She didn't understand why she hated her mother all of the sudden. She could've seen this from Joey, but not Serenity!

Serenity retorted with a scoff, "That's a lie! The woman doesn't have a redeeming quality. She never cared at all!"

"We'll talk more about this later, let's get you some dry clothes first." She suggested as the soaked girl walked inside. Hoping to get warm and hoping to stay her without her parents finding out. The last thing she needed was for Téa's parents to call _her_ and pick her up.

**10 Minutes Later, Téa's Room.**

"And she never even cared at all…" Serenity finished, now dressed in her pink pajamas, as she took a drink out of her mug of hot cocoa. "Joey could die and she'd rather work on her damn case for tomorrow! And then she slapped me!" She sniffed a bit. "She slapped me in the face. I guess Joey isn't the only child of hers that she hates…"

Téa couldn't believe what she was hearing. She knew that Joey had a grudge against his mom for abandoning him to his drunken deadbeat father, but after hearing what she's been hearing, his grudge against her was more than justified. When he used to joke with her, Yugi and Tristan when he said that he was fucked up, somehow she knew that he wasn't joking. Now that she thought about it, she would've turned out like Joey, the same Joey she first met – loud, rude, obnoxious, and most of all an insensitive prick – if her father was a deadbeat alcoholic and her mother didn't care about her. Hell, anyone would! Granted he was occasionally three out of the four, it was still a lot better than the Joey who, along with Tristan, used to pick on Yugi everyday. Even if they were "just toughening him up."

She sighed, "You know that you're going to have to work things out with your mom." She informed them. "_Both_ of you. I don't care how you and Joey feel about her, but she's still your mother."

"Well she sure as hell acts like one." Serenity dryly said. "Some mother…"

"I'm serious! I'm not going to let another family fall apart all because of some old trivial issues that should've been long resolved."

"Maybe this family was destined to fall apart."

"You only have one mother, though."

"Right… but that doesn't mean that I have to like her." Serenity reminded. "Besides, I don't need to worry about having a mother figure."

Téa looked at the auburn-haired girl, "Why's that?"

She let out a soft chuckle. "Joey always said that you act like you were his mom so much that you actually could considering being his!"

"WHAT?" Téa eyes went wide at this revelation. Talk about coming out from left field… "Is this how Joey really thinks of me?"

"In a way… yeah." Serenity teased.

"Well that's great…" The brunette girl sighed. Joey thinks of her more as a mother figure than a potential girlfriend? She knew that it wasn't supposed to be an insult, but it sure doesn't make her feel happy either. It was more like she just instantly aged 30 years. If anyone was, or should've been like a mother figure, it should've been Mai. Wasn't she like, 30? Téa couldn't remember her age, as Mai Valentine was never the one to reveal her age. But she did remember Joey saying that their relationship, while he had liked to have one, would reach pedophilia levels. Let's face it, Joey might've basically been the adult around his house with his deadbeat father, but let's face it: He was still a minor in high school. And with the hard pressure these days, not only were underage relationships between an adult and a minor were looked down upon, but in some places they were even illegal. And the last thing anyone wanted was for Mai to get sent to jail because of her relationship with Joey. But back on subject, now Joey, according to Serenity, thought of Téa as like a mother to him? If Joey really thought of her like that, then she could forget about having any chance of having a relationship with him that went beyond their frienship…even if by some miracle he broke up with _her_…

**Kaiba Manor**

Kaiba fiercely typed away on his computer at this late hour, trying to put behind the events of what had happened today. Especially Wheeler getting shot! So what if he could possibly die from all of this? Why the hell should he even care about the chump? If anything he deserved to get shot! Why? If he would just accepted the stupid duel, then none of this would've happened! Then he would've just beaten that hack and be done with the whole thing. Hmph, It's not like he asked for him to take the bullet for him in the first place! He knew that he wasn't going to thank him, but the idiot did so anyway! And why should he? For one thing, he sure as hell wasn't so helpful in getting Mokuba's stolen sneakers back, or as _they_ called it, "kicks!" Kaiba had some kicks of his own. A few headed directly towards the mongrel's ass as a matter of fact… If he somehow woke up…

His last words before going unconscious didn't help either. Kaiba scoffed, even when he went unconscious he had an insult for him. Would you want to help the person who just labeled you as a "fucking elitist piece of shit?" He didn't think so. Wheeler should've been lucky he even called an ambulance, at all. For all that's worth he could've just walked away, not caring at all. And he still didn't cared then, so why should he now?

"You're not getting any work done, are you?"

Kaiba narrowed his eyes. Out of all the times. Out of all the times where he actually tries to catch up on some of his work, _he_ had to show up now. "Now what…"

"Or are you feeling a bit guilty since you…well…y'know…" Seto said to Kaiba.

"Guilty is the least of what I'm feeling. Now if you excuse me, I have a company to run!"

"At this time of night?"

"Yes, at this time of night! Lately it's been the only time I could actually get some work done thanks to…some distractions."

"Like Joey having to help you and ended up saving your life?"

"Please! Wheeler's backhanded help I could've done without!" Kaiba declared. "He's the reason why it came down to this!"

"Oh right…I almost forgot. The duel. The duel that you oh-so much want from him."

"You're making me sound like I'm one of those whores who're looking to leech on any man who'd pay them a dime." Kaiba rolled his eyes. "I'm not that desperate!"

"Yes… Unlike them, you just had to go to the most dangerous parts of town to get what you want, and all you got was a revelation." Seto reminded. "All you got was almost shot! You just had to make them angry!"

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Seto, it's not my fault if those ruffians aren't civilized. Even Wheeler has more class than them, and we all know how sophisticated he is!" Kaiba shook his head. "Great, first I'm talking to my conscience, now I calling him by name…" Perhaps sleep was the best option at the moment, but he had so much work to do. With the exception of keys being pressed on the keyboard, total silence filled the room. Until…

"You're worried about him, aren't you?"

'What now…' Kaiba turned to his annoyance for a conscience. "What are you talking about?"

"You're trying to work so you won't think about how Joey's doing!"

"I am not thinking about Wheeler!" Kaiba hissed.

"Suure you're not." Seto replied, completely unconvinced.

"Why should I, Genius? Why should I care about-" Kaiba stopped himself, knowing what Seto was going to say. "Nevermind… And besides, it's not like he actually wanted to save me out of the good will of his heart. Everyone with half a brain knows that if Yugi weren't there, Wheeler would've just watched me get shot. Hell, he'd probably even join them knowing him…"

"Aren't you being a bit paranoid?" Seto asked.

"It's the truth! Everyone knows that Wheeler and I…let's just say that Satan and Jesus have a better chance of being gay lovers than we have of even being able to tolerate each other."

"But still, saying that Joey would leave you to die is still a bit farfetched."

"Please, I could get killed the next day and he wouldn't even mourn or at least show up at my funeral. Not like I'd pay him any respects if the tables were reversed… Since day one, he's never showed me any respect at all! He always had a grudge against me just because I'm everything he'll never be: Successful, both in dueling and in life."

"Actually, if I remember correctly, he tried to be friendly with you. A game of duel monsters I believe. 'I'd have a better challenge playing solitaire.' I believe you replied. So maybe Joey never showed you any respect, but you weren't so respectful yourself. So basically, you're both to blame."

"Whatever…" Kaiba went back to his work. Not wanting to hear anymore nonsense from his conscience than he already had.

"When you think about it, it's not so surprising that your entire feud led to this…" Seto sighed. "It's depressing, really."

"Are you done?" Kaiba rolled his eyes. Apparently his conscience was becoming more and more annoying every day. If that's how it was going to be, then he wished that he didn't have a conscious. Then he wouldn't have to admit, even if it's not aloud, that his conscience may have a point, even if it was a small one. Perhaps if him and Wheeler were at least more civil with each other, then none of this would've happened. But that still didn't change the insults and comments that were made. Especially from Wheeler! He may've seemed to be cold and heartless, but Kaiba had feelings too! True that it was his fault, but that doesn't mean that he deserved to be treated like he was Scrooge. If they would've at least tried to get to know him better, then they would've at least see that there was more to Kaiba's cold personality, even if he rejected their attempts in the past. When you had five of your employees that you trusted try to steal your company and kill you, he'd be paranoid too!

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Next chapter, it's back to the hospital. What will happen? Will Joey survive or will he kick the bucket? R&R! 


	25. Teriffic Indeed

Here's the new chapter. I don't have much to say right now, but enjoy this chapter.

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**Chapter 25: **Terrific Indeed 

It was three thirty in the morning and Arisa couldn't sleep. Actually, she couldn't even stay in the house! Not while Joey was in the hospital in that room alone. The thought that he was in there was enough to get her angry, let alone at Kaiba: The one who, might as well, was responsible for him being there in the first place. True, Joey and Yugi shouldn't have gone to the place in the first place. But then again, from what Syd had told them, everything was going fine until Kaiba showed up, as usual, and things went from potentially bad to very bad in a hurry. And now? What was a girl who was obviously fighting a huge bout with insomnia to do?

She could watch some TV. Problem was, there was hardly anything on at this time of night. Unless you count infomercials and late night movies of course. There were videogames. She did have her Sony Playstation 2 hooked up, but unfortunately she left her controller at, ironically, Joey's house. They just had to have an Ironman Tekken battle. What was it for? Let's just say that she was generous enough to give Joey a chance to win his Red Eyes back. Too bad he lost…

So she can't watch TV, she can't play any videogames. She guessed she could study. After all, she did have more than plenty of room for improvement in Chemistry. But the thing about Arisa? When it came to studying, she couldn't do it unless she was in a good mood. Damn it, having insomnia sucked ass.

Right now she wanted to peel out of her sleep clothes, place on her school uniform and hopefully be able to at least see her boyfriend before she had to go to school. But she knew that she couldn't. And why? Her so-called "loving" soon-to-be "stepfather" had unpredictable hearing. At times he could hear a pin drop and at others she could call out to him and he still wouldn't hear. The fact that she didn't really think much of her didn't help things either. At times, she suspected that he was looking for any excuse to get her into trouble. Maybe it was out of hope that she'd be sent to boarding school so that he'd have her mother to himself. That was the reason why children are always against their parents remarrying. Their so-called new stepparent may seem nice and caring, but they're actually seen as a nuisance, a problem, or just in the way. Usually resulting into child abuse, as horrifying as it sounded. But back on subject, Arisa decided that there was only one thing to do in which she knew that she had the least chance of getting in trouble…

Arisa walked to her dresser as she grabbed her cellphone. As she went through the list of numbers on her phone, she saw exactly the one she needed to talk to. She could only hope that she was awake, or at least up for discussion. But knowing her, Kara Wilson was always an insomniac, even more than she was at time. "Please be awake…" She said silently. Arisa _really_ needed someone to talk to right now…

"_Arisa…"_ The tired, aggravated voice of the blue-haired girl replied.

"Kara." She asked, "Were you asleep?"

"_Can I answer that with a question of my own?"_ She replied before Arisa was forced to move the phone from her ears. _"ARE YOU A SOCIALLY-CHALLENGED MORON? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IT IS?"_

"Listen I'm sorry, but I really need someone to talk to!" The blonde said, almost in a pleading tone towards the usually placid teen. "Please don't hang up."

A sigh could be heard from the other end. _"Okay, you got no more than 15 minutes. But after that, I'm going _straight_ back to bed."_

"Okay…" Arisa sighed. "Joey got shot today…"

"_What?"_

"Yeah…"

"_You're kidding!"_

"I'm serious. He and Yugi went to one of those underground duels, and from what I've found out everything went fine… until Kaiba showed up."

Kara sighed, _"What did he do now?"_ She knew where this was going. Arisa was going to bitch about Kaiba for the rest of the conversation.

"Kaiba manage to get someone to shoot at him, and Joey had to save his life by taking the shot for him! That's how he got into the hospital in the first place. And you know what pissed me off the most? Not only did Kaiba hardly showed any concern for Joey's health, but he said that he got what he deserved!" Her grip on the phone tightened a bit as a small cracking sound was heard. "That bastard was the one who should've been sent to the hospital and he said that Joey deserve that? And for what, just because he didn't want to duel him?" She shook her head. "I'm sorry Kar, but you sure know how to pick 'em."

"_And what is that supposed to mean, hmm?"_

"You obviously have feelings for Mr. Roboto." Arisa accused.

"_No I don't…"_ Kara replied. _"I just feel sorry for him. I mean it's obvious that he wasn't born to be a jerk. We all know that he was basically raised to be this way. He basically said it at the last meeting."_

"Well that still doesn't excuse him for his attitude." Arisa stated. "Did you know that he basically was taunting Joey using a blimp with his big melon on the screen?"

"_Really?"_ Kara sighed. _"Looks like I just found a big project for me to work on…"_

"Are you saying that because it could really help your resume and your school transcripts, or are you saying it because it give you the perfect excuse to be around Captain Charisma?" Arisa had a smirk on her face. While she didn't like the idea that her best friend could possibly have feelings for a jerk like Kaiba, it was still fun to tease her about it nonetheless.

"_No!"_

"I can't see you, but I betcha my life savings that you're blushing right now!"

"_Whatever, I'm going to bed! Bye!"_

"Keep denying it, Kara Wilson! Keep denying it." Arisa sighed as she heard the clicking sound indicating their connection was broken. "You like Seto Kaiba, just admit it." As much as she didn't like him, it was basically Kara's decision on whomever she liked. Besides, it's the roles were reversed, Kara would do the same for her, right?

**The Next Day…**

It was a very slow morning for Arisa, as she stepped out of the house, she made her long walk to school. Temptation to ditch school and go to the hospital was high. So high that it took just about everything inside her within reason to keep her on the path to school! For one reason, she'd already got in trouble for ditching school that she was grounded for an entire weekend. It was a nice long walk before she heard the sound of a familiar motorbike rev up close to her. Arisa looked back as she saw the rider. It was Tristan.

"Y'wanna ride?" He offered with a smile. "Beats walking alone!"

"If you're going to the hospital!" She smiled.

"Love to…" Tristan started before sighing, "Can't. I've just got this bike back, no thanks to your boyfriend, and the last thing I need to do is to have my parents take the keys away because I ditched…again."

Arisa couldn't help but giggle at the memory about how angry he was after he got in trouble for ditching with Joey. And she remembered Joey telling her how angry Tristan was after 'the secret' was out. Tristan dismounted as he decided to walk his bike along with Arisa on the way to school as Arisa asked, "Okay, but how about after school?"

"No problem!" Tristan nodded, but sighed. "Although, we're gonna have to bring everyone along. Bakura, Serenity, Melody…" His voice became colder as he then mentioned, "Devlin…" Went back to normal. "Oh, and Yugi, too! Wherever the hell he is…"

"Yeah. What happened to him?" The cute little blonde wondered. She hasn't, hell she doubt that anyone has seen Yugi ever since Joey got shot. If there was any, Arisa felt a bit of resentment towards the spiky-haired duelist. After all, he was supposed to be his best friend! Hell, even Kaiba, of all people, showed up, and he didn't even like the guy! Of course Joey wasn't the president of the Seto Kaiba fanclub himself, and she already had a strong disliking of the CEO. But at least Kaiba actually showed up! In fact, he was the last person anyone would think who'd show up. Arisa at least expected Yugi to at least show an ounce of care for his best friend…well…supposedly. As the two walked by, they were greeted by another.

"Hey guys!" Kara saw the two walking by as waved at them. Usually, Kara was usually one of the first people at school as, as some had come to known, she was basically a bookworm. But after hearing about Joey, who was usually the one who Arisa walked to school with, Kara thought that Arisa could use a friend. She didn't expect Tristan, of all people, to be there. From what Arisa had told her about what Joey had said…or complained rather about Tristan constantly hitting on Serenity, wouldn't he usually try to be with her?

"Kara!" Tristan greeted. "What's up?"

"I heard about what happened." The blue haired girl said. "Have you heard any-"

"None…zip, nada." Tristan admitted.

"I was tempted to go straight to the hospital…" The blonde admitted. "But we are planning on going after school ends."

"Sounds good to me." Kara nodded. "Who else?"

"Melody, Bakura…" Tristan's eyes then narrow a bit, "Duke…" Back to normal, "Serenity…" Tristan was silent before looking towards Arisa. "Téa."

"Isn't that swell…" Arisa sarcastically said as Kara and Tristan both sighed.

"You know that you're gonna have to get over your hatred of her. Just because she has feelings for your boyfriend doesn't mean you should hate her!" Tristan reminded.

"Tell that to _her_!" Arisa scoffed. "I mean, you saw the way she treated me when she first met!"

"Even if she did started this, you should at least be the better person in this and try to work things out." Kara suggested, only to get a hmph from the blonde. "Jeez Arisa, when will this little rivalry between you and Téa end?"

Arisa scoffed, "When Joey and Kaiba become the best of friends."

"Terrific…" Kara sighed, knowing exactly what she was saying. Free snow cones freshly made from the ice water in the depths of hell had a better chance of happening than Joey and Kaiba even tolerating each other. She felt that if…no _when_ Joey got out of the hospital, things would quickly turn from bad to worse! Terrific indeed…

Kara's eyes suddenly went wide as she stopped. Terrific! The idea that just hit her that was. What if Joey and Kaiba _did_ become the best of friends? Not only tolerating each other, but become close together. After all, they appeared to have plenty in common: Broken families, dueling, just to name a couple of things. A smile formed on her face, the benefits of this were certain. Joey and Kaiba wouldn't go at each other's throats and their eternal feud could finally end. Kaiba would finally have friends he can trust and at least loosen up a bit. And it would bring hope to end the other developing feuds: Arisa and Téa, and, from what she got from his tone of voice earlier, Tristan and Duke. A Terrific idea indeed.

"Kar…" Arisa asked, noticing her blank expression. "…Are you alright?" Her friend's smile turned into a grin as she had a feeling where this was going. "Ohhhh no…" She shook her head. "Please tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking."

"What am I thinking?" She replied innocently.

"Oh I don't know… perhaps a certain blonde I'm dating and a certain brunette that you obviously having feelings for becoming friends?" Arisa asked as Tristan held up a hand as he also shook his head.

"I'm not touching that one with a 40-foot pole." He stated.

"Oh c'mon! It's not that bad of an idea! It's perfect!" Kara exclaimed.

"Please, it's like bringing fire and ice together!" Arisa explained. "You're only going to just piss'em off!"

"You're being paranoid. I think it's a genius idea! With the two of us, we can do anything!"

"You mean the three of us, Tristan's-HEY!" She was interrupted by the sound of a motor revving up as she saw the pointy-haired brunette on the bike! "COWARD!" She shouted at him.

"YOU DAMN SKIPPY!" He shouted back as he rode away, leaving the two girls alone.

Arisa let out a groan as she looked towards the bluehead. "…You're not really going to go through with this, right?"

"What are you so afraid of? I don't think anyone's ever even thought about this!"

"There's a reason why nobody thought about this! It's because…well…lesse…BECAUSE WE HAVE A BETTER CHANCE CONVINCING TWO GAY GUYS TO MARRY US IN THE NEXT TEN MINUTES?"

Kara sighed, "Arisa, Arisa, Arisa…" She shook her head. "Ye of little faith. Just calm down and leave everything to me! I mean, how hard could it be?"

Arisa rolled her eyes. "Oh god, please tell me she's not this naïve…"

Kara ignored Arisa's protest as they continued their walk to the school. She knew that it was going to take a little…okay a lot of work. But she was confident enough to convince Joey and Kaiba to at least get along with each other. It may've not been easy, but then again, most of the best things weren't the easiest to maintain. She was confident that with the right methods taken, she might be able to turn two enemies into two friends. A terrific idea indeed! Now the question was which person she should work on first: The now-calm, yet still occasionally hotheaded Joey Wheeler, or the cold, yet misunderstood Seto Kaiba?

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Next Chapter, it's back to the hospital as Joey finally wakes up. What will happen then? Tune in next chapter. 


	26. Me, Myself, and I

Oh, how I just love Spring Break. It's rare that I get a week of doing just about nothing and sleep! But sadly, it's all coming to an end. At least I managed to produce this chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 26: **Me, Myself, and I

"Arisa, what are you doing?" Kara asked as Arisa, standing on the tips of her toes, place a hand on top of Kara's forehead.

"Well you don't have a fever…" The blonde said as she pondered. Just what was she thinking trying to get Joey and Kaiba to be friends? For one, she had a chance of getting water and oil mixing together. And two, from what had happened at Kaiba Land, Kaiba and Joey were definitely not on good terms. And Kaiba wasn't exactly affected by Joey's tragic result from yesterday either. In all honest opinion: It was about to get worse before even considering getting better.

"For the last time, it's going to work. Sure it'll take a lot of work, but when was the last time the best plans were a success without any work put into it?" Kara explained, clearly the more enthusiastic of the two, as they were getting near the high school.

"Kara, you're my best friend and I love you. You're like a sister to me, but honestly, this is the biggest, the stupidest, the craziest plan that you've ever come up with!"

"Just crazy enough to work!" Kara explained. "Now we have to think, just what would definitely bring the two together…"

Arisa pondered, "Well, there is the whole 'rematch' thing Kaiba's been bugging Joey for."

"Hmm…that can work."

"Small problem Dr. Wilson!" Arisa reminded. "Joey doesn't want anything to do with Kaiba, let alone wanting to duel him. If you were at Kaiba Land the other day, you'd know."

"That…is a problem…" Kara sighed. Just when they were about to take one step forward, they were pushed two steps back. "What would make Joey want to duel Kaiba?"

"Well, there is the fact that he's finally beaten him, but he doesn't seem to care about that anymore. He's basically had the duel in the bag and said 'fuck it' and lost."

"But isn't there anything he'd want from Kaiba. A card, I mean?"

"Not really…" Arisa said as they were finally at the high school. "Okay, we'll talk about this later. You can do whatever, but right now I'm going to the girls' room to make sure that this isn't some nightmare and that you haven't lost your sanity." And with that the blonde walked away, leaving Kara alone to think about her plan. While she appeared confident in front of Arisa, she was definitely not without her doubts. Even if Joey and Kaiba managed to stay in the same room without killing each other, that was only dealing with the result. She could sense that Seto Kaiba had other issues. Issues that went beyond what she had learned at the last group meeting.

"_What's wrong, Kara?"_ A voice asks, concern being evident.

She sighed to herself. "It's just trying to get two people who'd rather die than to spend one second with each other to become at least friends, Kisara. It's a lot harder than it sounds…"

"_It does seem difficult, but you must stay strong."_ Kisara explains. _"From my experience, Kaiba seems to be a bit paranoid. Arrogant and conceited as well, perhaps."_

"True, but I just know it that deep down, there's a caring, kind, sensitive person just wanting to come out. But he keeps it inside." A tear began to come out from her eyes. "It's a horrible thing to see, you know?"

"_I may not understand how people act in this day of age, but I feel that you have feelings for him."_

Kara blinked, "What?"

"_Kaiba. You care about him, do you?"_

"Great… First Arisa, now you too? Am I that obvious?"

"Umm…Kara? Are you okay?"

Kara blinked as she saw a few familiar faces. Embarrassment rushed to her face as she tried to wave it off. "It's nothing. I was just in deep thought."

Duke replied, "Were you that much deep in thought?"

Tristan added. "Yeah, you're starting to act like Yugi!"

"Speaking of Yugi…" Melody searched around. "Where is he? Come to think about it, ever since Joey got shot, hardly anyone's heard from Yugi!"

"I hope he's okay…" Téa looked around. "Our circle of friends has been disintegrating. First Joey's shot up at the hospital, Yugi's disappeared, and Arisa's…" She stopped herself. Since _when_ was she concern about _her_ anyway? "Well…it's not that bad…"

"Téa…" Kara glared at her. She knew about Téa and Arisa's problems with each other. In fact, she was about to dub them the female Joey and Kaiba, with Tristan/Duke as Joey/Kaiba-Lite. For friends, there were certain rivalries and resentment forming…

Somewhere…(?)

"Where am I?" Brown eyes opened as Joey looked around. The last thing he remembered was that he was at the big house with Yugi, Syd, and Kaiba… His eyes narrowed as it all came back to him: Kaiba managed to piss of Tyrell, who tried to shoot him. But Joey had pushed him out of the way, leaving himself to take the bullet instead. "Not a thank you…" He said to himself. "Not one fuckin' 'Thank you…'"

"No shit, Sherlock!" A familiar voice said, as Joey looked up. The voice should've been familiar, as he was looking at himself, instead of the black jeans/white shirt he was wearing, this Joey was wearing a black and white jersey and baggier black jeans. Save for a matching black beanie on his head. "Here ya are once again helpin' out Rich Boy, an' does he even thank ya? Hell no! Man, ya should've let that bitch get shot up! It was his own damn fault!"

"But what about Mokuba?" Joey heard his own voice again, only more timid and whiny, as he and what appeared to be his darker half turned over and saw another Joey, dressed the same way as the original Joey, but his clothes were a bit tattered and ragged. "How would he feel if he found out that his brother, his only bit of family he had left was killed?"

"Man, shut yer weak ass up!" The darker personality said. "Yer saying that he should've sacrificed his life for one person who hates him and has made it a hobby to fuck wit him?" He said in a roaring tone, fists balled up as the weaker personality cowered into a ball.

"I…Iwasjustsayin'…" He cried.

"THIS IS WHY WHELLA'S GETTIN' PUNKED OUT! WHEN HE HAS THE CHOICE TO DO THE SMART THING, LIKE BEATING THAT PIECE OF SHIT FATHER OF HIS TO A MUTHAFUCKIN' PULP, HE HAS TA LISTIN' TO YO WEAK ASS AND GETS PUNKED!" Joey's evil counterpart grabbed the tattered loins of his timid counterpart, whose tears were now running down his cheeks.

"…pleasedonthurtme…"

He shook his head. "Naw Muthafucka, I ain't gonna do that…" He said as he then screamed. "I'M GONNA FUCKIN' KILL YA!"

"Noo…" He cried as he closed his eyes. However, no impact came to his face as when he opened his eyes, the fist that was about to connect to his face was stopped by another version of Joey. This time, his hair, unlike the three of them, was slicked back as he was dressed in a nice blue suit.

"Put him down." He said in a calm voice. "You should know better than anyone that violence will make things worse. And you are the last person who should be criticizing anyone for giving bad advice!"

Bad Joey dropped Timid Joey as he glared at the new arrival. "What'chu talkin' bout?"

"If I recall correctly, the last time Joseph listened to you about what to do about Kaiba, he ended up falling flat on his face. To add insult to injury, he also had to spend time in detention… Lately, he's been taking my advice, _finally_, and so far has managed to do well."

"Man, I can take Kaiba!" Bad Joey pulled out a pair of pistols and aimed them at his more rational counterpart. "Let's see Moneybags shoot off 'notha dog joke with his mouth full'a lead! Hmph, pansy-ass muthafucka…"

"Now you're really starting to act like a fool." Rational Joey commented as the original Joey tried to maintain the peace.

"Guys?"

"Man, who the fuck you callin' a fool, ya fairy-assed muthafucka?"

"Can't we all just get along?"

"Well if the shoe fits…"

"Guys?"

"Man, I'll take ya the fuck out!"

"Please…"

"Resorting to threats again, eh?"

"GUYS!"

All three Joeys turned around to see the original just moments away from having a migraine. "How can I think with all you guys actin' like a buch'cha idiots?"

"Sorry Joey…"

"My apologies…"

"My bad, my bad…"

"Look, from the way things are going I'm 'bout to wake up any minute now an' I'm gonna being in a whole lotta pain. Any advice on what I should do?"

Bad Joey stated, "I'll tell ya what you should do: Getta Marretta and bust one in Kaiba's punk ass! Do everyone a favah and deal with that elitist piece of shit once an' for all!"

"Or you could completely ignore the first suggestion and play it safe." Rational Joey added.

"Go with him! Go with him! His plan sounds safer?" Timid Joey placed in his two cents.

"Man, if ya can't stop kissin' other people's asses, than shut the fuck up! Bad Joey snapped at his weaker half.

"I suggest you find some class! You're in definite need of it." Rational Joey states as Joey sighed. The room was starting to bright up. Was he waking up? While he wondered what was going to happen now, he was thankful that he wouldn't have to hear _them_ argue anymore…

* * *

See, I told you he was going to wake up, but I didn't say that I wasn't going to leave it right there! Yeah, I know. Hit me with every obscenity in the book if ya want. Next chapter the gang's all here…well…except for Kaiba of course. 


	27. Awakening

**Chapter 27: **Awakening

"Wha…what happened?"

"Welcome back, Joey!" The nurse greeted as the blonde looked around. From what he could see, he was in a white room, lying in an elevated bed, wearing the traditional hospital gown. Yep, he was in the hospital. "We almost lost you."

"What the he-Oww…" Joey winced as he felt pain near the area of his left shoulder. Remembering that he got shot after saving Kaiba from Tyrell… "Got any painkillahs here?"

"We'll see what we can do." The nurse said as Joey looked at her. She had long green hair in curly pigtails while wearing a white nurse's uniform. Was he in heaven, because he was definitely looking at an angel!

Joey shook his head, what was he thinking? He already had a girlfriend, much hotter to be exactly. Maybe it was just his normal male hormones getting to him. He looked down to his left and saw that he had a patch where his gunshot wound was. Tristan would have a kick out of this, but that wasn't the deal. He managed to spot a calendar pinned on the wall as he saw the date May 23!

Joey eyes went wide. "What the fuck? How long I've been out for?" Thoughts of how much school work he missed came to his mind. It was already bad enough that he was having some trouble with his school work, due to trouble with a certain elitist prick, without having to be way behind. And what about Serenity? Arisa? Yugi? Hell, everyone! That day, everything he did not want to happen happened. Kaiba followed him, a major conflict went down, and worst of all, somebody got shot. The few good things about it is that Yugi made a friend, Syd, and Joey managed to keep Yugi from getting hurt…even if it was himself who took the bullet – literally!

"Calm down! I'm sure that your school matters are being taken care off." She assured him as she walked over with a small cup of water and another cup with two pills inside. "Do you want something to eat? It's not wise to take pills on an empty stomach!"

"Nah, s'alright!" Joey assured as he took both cups. He placed the two pills in his mouth before washing them down with the cup of water. As he looked towards his left shoulder, he saw a huge bandage in the area where the shoulder met the chest. "What's the damage?"

"It was a close one." A new voice said as Joey looked towards the door. A tall, lanky man in a white lab coat walked in. "If it would've moved just a bit more, you would need a wheelchair?"

"Wha?" Joey blinked. "Was it that serious?"

"I'm afraid so. From our diagnostics the bullet's path was in a slanted direction and went straight through. If it would've moved, it would've hit your spine, consequentially paralyzing you for life. You are a very lucky young man Mr. Wheeler."

"Tell me sumthin' I haven't heard." He scoffed a bit, remembering the speculation that all of his duels won were by luck and chance! So what? What if he lost? It'd be because of luck and chance too! Gamble decks were basically a double-edge sword: They could help you or hurt you. Especially if they're rigged by some lying, cheating lawyer! But Joey got tired of Kaiba's comments about him relying on luck that, when he first got new cards that he could use in his deck, he mostly got rid of the majority of cards that were based on coin toss and dice rolls. The only cards of that kind that were left were Fairy Box, Maximum Six, Graceful Dice, and Skull Dice. Winning duels became easier for him, but he still couldn't beat Yugi. In fact he barely tied with him! He could beat Kaiba, but we all knew the result of that… "When can I get outta here?"

"You've lost a lot of blood and you were out for quite a bit, so you'll have to stay her for a couple more days to recover!" He said. "Would you like something to eat? Ice Cream perhaps?"

"It'd be nice to have sumthin' in my stomach, but save the Ice Cream till lata, would ya?" Joey suggested. Knowing a certain blonde girl who'll want to eat more than his share of ice cream when she showed up in a few hours…

"Fair enough, but you need to eat something."

"How 'bout some donuts?" Joey suggested.

The middle-aged doctor smiled. "That could be arranged." He said before leaving the room. Giving Joey time to think about all that has just happened. Him getting shot, Yugi having to witness him getting shot, just to name a few! For the first time in his life, he really began to think that he should've just listened to Kaiba, let alone done what he wanted him to do. If he would've just accepted the duel, Kaiba wouldn't have followed him and Yugi to the building and he wouldn't have started a ruckus which almost got him shot! Nevertheless he knew there would be hell to pay when he was released and could only pray that he could successfully do some damage control.

(Later That Day…)

Pairs and pairs of feet could be heard as a group of high school students…and two middle school students ran inside of the hospital! Ever since they've heard the news, they couldn't wait to see him. Of course, to say that it'll be emotional was an understatement while a few wanted to slap the person they were worried about because of the trouble he put them through.

Serenity was one of the most worried. Ever since she's heard about Joey's injury, she's been in a nervous wreck. Even her family life has been a living hell. After finding out the truth about how much their so-called "mother" cared about her son being shot, or lack thereof, Serenity didn't want to have anything to do with her. In the mean time, she's been staying with Téa for the past couple of days. Her parents were shocked and somewhat annoyed with having another mouth to feed, but Serenity refused to go home. Téa basically had no other choice but to keep Serenity at her place, as she wasn't about to let Serenity stay with Tristan _or_ Duke for obvious reasons, Bakura's family was busy remodeling their home, Melody was still just getting settled moving back to Domino, she didn't know Kara's number, and Arisa could just kiss her ass. Serenity just couldn't figure out why Téa didn't like her, she was nice, after all!

Speaking of Téa, she was just about worried. Maybe not as much as Serenity, but sure as hell as a lot more than the half-pint Joey was currently dating. She sighed, wondering what Joey actually saw in Arisa Mallovic anyway. From what she saw from the other day, Arisa was just as much as loose cannon as Joey was. She might have been as cute as Dark Magician Girl… more like Toon Dark Magician Girl… but from that session at group, it was clearly shown that Téa had more class than her. Okay, she was jealous, but at least when Joey was crushing on Mai, it was someone who had class and held herself at a high standard, even if she was a bit vain at times. And unlike Arisa, Mai actually had respect for Téa, rather than rubbing in the fact that Joey was dating her not Téa. This caused the brunette to grit her teeth from thinking about it! 'Damn it, I am jealous!'

Tristan and Duke, as much as they wouldn't like to admit it, were having similar thoughts: See Joey, talk to Joey, and when it is revealed that he was alright, beat the living hell out of him for the trauma he put Serenity through! If he survived being shot, surely he can survive what the two of them would dish out. After all, his foolish move not only made Serenity a wreck, but Arisa went nuts as well! And where the hell was Yugi through all of this? Every since it happened, Yugi hasn't showed up at school and when they went to the card shop, from what they've heard from his grandpa, Yugi all of a sudden became an Emo-bitch. All because of Joey getting shot!

Tristan shook his head remembering the day before the two left for that place. Yugi wanted to go but Joey wanted not part of taking him there. Honestly, he didn't know who to blame more: Joey for taking Yugi there! Yugi for wanting to go there in the first place! Or the usual suspect: Kaiba for following them and then showing up, causing the event in the first place! From what he heard from Syd, everything was going fine until that loser showed up and started trouble. When Arisa jumped Kaiba, if it weren't for the fact that Mr. Moto and a few more adults were around he would've joined the fray and shoved his foot so far up that snob's ass that the sweat from his balls would quench Kaiba's thirst.

Arisa was shaking on the inside. She wondered if Joey was really okay or was there something they weren't notified about. Ever since that night, she couldn't sleep. Nightmarish thoughts entered her mind as she envisioned Joey getting shot, and Kaiba carelessly laughing at him. The thought of the CEO made her skin crawl. Everything that's happened to Joey was Kaiba's fault. Him getting in trouble! Him getting detention! Him giving up Duel Monsters, and now this! Her eyes narrowed, if Joey never fully recover from this, she would never forgive Kaiba!

Speaking of Kaiba, his brother Mokuba was with them. Arisa didn't know much about Mokuba, but he did seem to be nice. Much nicer than that jerk of a brother of his, that's for sure. Tristan had told her that when Joey nearly lost his life back in the Battle City finals, it was Mokuba who called the medics for him. That made Arisa wonder just how the hell a nice, sweet kid like Mokuba could have a prick like Kaiba for a brother. Oh well… somebody had to love him, she supposed. At least there's two people who could tolerate him. One was with the group while the other was going to Kaiba Corp.

Speaking of Kara, she was putting forth her plan into motion. Well…actually, she made a list of "chores" for her and Arisa to do. Arisa would talk to Joey while Kara would try to deal with Kaiba's issues. The blonde scoffed at the thought. Good luck with that. She's constantly told her that the plan was as pointless as legless man buying a new pair of shoes, but the blue-haired girl wouldn't quit. Originally she wanted to slap Joey for making her worry into a nervous wreck, but after what she was about to do, to say that he'd be irate would be an understatement.

The gang had made inside as they already knew the location of Joey's room. They proceeded to take the stairs to the 2nd floor before making a right. While the girls were wondering how Joey's recovering, Tristan wondered if Joey had some hospital food left over and Duke wondered if Kaiba has the balls to actually show his face. Probably not… As they were just close to the door they were met with a surprise, especially Serenity.

"Mom…?" Her eyes went wide as she saw her mother, the last person other than Kaiba she expected to be here. She was probably here to check the damage, and by "damage" she meant the hospital bills. Good thing the woman at least thought of getting Joey some health insurance…

"Well hello Serenity." The older woman said, a bit sternly. After all, her daughter did run away from home so it was understandable why she'd be angry.

"…" Serenity turned away as she looked down. "Hello Mother…" She said, not exactly excited to see her. On the other hand, if her mother was worried about her, she'd be hugging her right now. Telling her how worried she was and how much she missed her.

"You had me worried! Where have you been young lady!" She demanded as Serenity turned around, eyes narrowed.

"Not that you care, but I was with a friend of mine. A friend who's been more of a mother for the past few days than you've been for the past few _years_! She didn't care how angry her mother was getting, especially since it was in front of her friends. Serenity was sure that Joey already told them about how "great" of a mother she was.

"I'm trying the best I can!" The elder Wheeler shouted.

"Well you're not trying hard enough!" The youngest replied. "It's because of your selfish pride that our family is on life support right now. Daddy's God knows where, Joey's shot up in the hospital! But then again, in your eyes, that's a good thing! After all, you basically left Joey with that man to die."

"Well what did you expect for me to do? Your brother was becoming more violent and more prone to fighting every day and your father wasn't helping things! And now look where it's gotten him: Joseph's now in the hospital lucky to be alive! That's where bad grades and street fighting will get you."

"Maybe it's not the child. Maybe it's the parent who's the problem, and I'm not talking about daddy!" Serenity said.

Miss Wheeler blinked, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, 'Mother.' After all, bad children always come from bad parents." Serenity crossed her arms.

"Are you saying that I am a bad mother?"

"To me? You weren't so bad." Serenity admits. "But to Joey, Daddy may've been nothing but an abusive drunk, but at least he was there! You basically left your son to die! And I don't care how much you deny it, that's the truth! A real mother would make sure her child was okay, but all you thought about was yourself! The reason why you decided to take me was because I was 'the least trouble of the two.' And to make it look like you cared about your kids. Maybe if you managed to take him along and get him the psychiatric help he needed from becoming the person you don't like, we wouldn't need to have this conversation. In fact, we all could be having our little Family Fun night!

"And as for his grades…" Serenity scoffed, "They're not as 'bad' as you say they are! Maybe if you'd taken time to focus on what your son is doing instead of making these accusation and assumptions you'd know that his grades are quite good."

"If you're talking about food and nutrition and Phys Ed, otherwise I'll have to say that you lost it. His report card was shown with D's and F's last time I checked."

Serenity shook her head. Typical of their so-called mother to believe that she knows everything, yet she knows nothing! "You still think he's getting D's and F's… peachy… just peachy…" She let out a small chuckle as she walked away as her mother looked at the other teens. Wondering if they knew anything about this... "Do you…"

"We do!" Téa was the first to admit. "It wasn't too long ago, though. Apparently he's been hiding it from us."

Tristan sighed, "Yeah, just because he doesn't want to end up like Kaiba!"

Miss Wheeler scoffed. "That's ridiculous. You'd think that he'd want a good role model like Seto Kaiba! Joseph could actually learn a thing or two from him."

"Yeah right…" Arisa scoffed silently. "Maybe how to be a prick…"

"If you want to see Joseph, that's fine." The older woman sighed, "You'll at least be much better than his current visitors. One of them was quite rude and had a bit of an attitude."

"What kind of visitors?" Duke asked, but stopped. They wouldn't be those guys from that place where Joey got shot, right?

"I think I know who they are…" Tristan sighed as he, followed by the rest of the gang, walked over to Joey's room. When they were inside, their eyes were wide.

"Man, I still say you should've let his ass get shot up!" Ten Z said as Joey took a bite out of his green Jello that was on the burgundy tray in his lap. "Of course Rich Boy ain't gonna thank you! Mr. High and Mighty thinks he's too good to thank the lower class, now."

"As much as hate the guy, what I was thinkin' was this: I could just let Moneybags get shot, leaving Mokuba without any memba of his family an' thus sendin' him to an orphanage. Or I could say 'fuck it' and help the S.O.B so Mokuba wouldn't be alone. The kid looks up to Kaiba."

"The only family Kaiba and Mokuba have left are each other." Syd added, who was reading a magazine entitled Entertainment Weekly. "So it's not ridiculous that Mokuba likes the guy. Even, if he is the biggest douche since Tom Cruise."

"Well the kid needs a new role model!" Ten Z crossed his arms. "S'no reason why he has ta foll'a punk ass bitch like him around like he's his fuckin' shadow!"

Joey blinked as he noticed his friends walking in. "Umm…Z?"

"And I know that you and tha little man said that he wasn't into no gay pedo shit, but y'all can't be too sure! I know big business tycoons like him, G! I've heard the stories. They like to go to different places in the world into hotels and hire some personal service if you know what I mean! They get some fine bitch, usually a maid or some shit like that, and do all sorts of freaky shit. Oral, anal… Shit, I've even heard of one guy getting some 14 year old girl to piss in a box or some sick shit like that. So there's gotta be some secret Richie Rich's hidin,' know what I'm sayin'?"

"We know what you're saying, that's why we want you to stop!" Syd added as she noted the young boy's glare which could match his brother's.

Ten Z ignored Syd's warnings. "And you know how them kids are today! They least likely to tell anyone if they been groped! Shit, you know about that whole R. Kelly bullshit with tha' 14 year old! Fo all we know, Kaiba's probably runnin' his own little Ho House! Shit, I'm surprise he's not ev-OWW!" The ebony adult clutched his now-injured jewels as Mokuba moved his foot back from under his crotch from behind.

"It's not like I can't here you, you jerk!" He glared. "Don't talk about what you don't know anything about, especially about my big bro!"

"Shit…" Ten Z moaned. "Why didn't y'all tell me he was behind me?" This caused Joey, Syd, and just about everyone else to sigh.

"You seem to be doing well…" Duke observed before noticing Syd. A smile came to his face as he grabbed her hand. "Hi there, I'm Duke. And you are?"

"Not interested in you, that's for sure." The redhead snatched her hand away as Tristan mimicked a missile dropping down.

"Denied!" The brunette taunted.

"Better to be denied one time than one hundred times, eh Taylor?" Duke retorted.

Syd blinked at the two's current argument, "Are they wannabe playboys or something?"

"Just ignore them…" Arisa sighed.

"So what did I miss while I was out, Taye?" Joey asked.

"Other than what's going on in school, not much." The brunette replied.

"And how's Kaiba doing? Wait, let me guess:" Joey scoffed as he narrowed his eyes, rolled up his sleeves, and tried to sound as 'menacing'(Read: Constipated) as possible. "'That Mutt got what he deserved! If he died then good riddance! Low-class trash like him deserves to be wiped from the streets and out from existence.'"

Duke snorted a bit. "Heh, you sound just like him."

Mokuba sighed. He didn't like the way they were mocking and making fun of his brother. First that black guy, and now Joey! "Seto isn't that bad."

"Right, just keep on believin' that, Lil man." Ten Z stated.

"As shady as he sounds, he does have a point." Téa stated.

"Thank you! At least somebody's feelin' me on this!" Ten Z looked around. "Speaking of Lil Man, where's that spiky haired one?"

"Now that I think about it, where is Yugi?" Syd asked. "You'd think that he'd show up to see if his best friend is alright!"

"Hey!" Téa snapped. "You don't know what Yugi's going through! He did witness someone getting shot for the first time in his life!"

"Whoa, I was just wondering! I wasn't saying anything! Aren't you being a bit overprotective?"

"I just don't want my friends to be judged prematurely.

"Syd's gotta point, Taye. I am getting worried about the guy…" Joey looked around. "An' where's Serenity? An' before you get any ideas, don't even think 'bout hittin' on my sista, Z. I'm already got enough problems with Tristan and Duke!"

"Aw man, why you gotta playa hate?" Z protested.

"Just forget it! If Joey's not letting me get near Serenity, there's no way he'll even consider you even thinking about her!" Tristan crossed his arms as Arisa walked near the bed.

"Soo…what's the damage?" She asked.

"Right now, I'm here for the rest of the week." Joey shrugged. "If I'm doing very well, the earliest I could get out would be Saturday. So how much have I missed so far, in terms of what'll affect me the worst?"

"Well… for one thing…" Arisa lets out a soft sigh. "Like my school uniform?" She asked with a grin.

"It looks nice on ya! Pink's really ya color!" Joey placed his hands behind his head.

"Really? Well, my love… Better enjoy seeing it now, because by next year, it'll all be over!"

Joey blinked. "What?"

"That's right!" Duke explained. "The school board's decided to abolish school uniforms."

"Ya mean we'll never have ta wear our uniforms again?"

"That's right!" Tristan nodded. "Which mean's we'll get to see Kaiba's ridiculous trenchcoat of the week from now on."

"I already have the perfect shirt to wear on the first day." Arisa grinned wickedly.

"I hope it's not something that'll make the school 2nd-guess their decision." Téa stated.

"That's a relief…" Joey sighed as he took a sip out of a small cup of apple juice. "Least we won't have to wear those short-shorts in gym class anymore."

"Yeah, not your best look, Luvvie!" Arisa teased. "Also, final exams are coming up!"

"WHAT?" Joey blinked.

"Don't worry! You're a smart boy! You'll find a way to pass!"

Mokuba blinked a bit at the "smart boy" remark. Since when was Joey ever smart, or as his brother would ask? "Am I missing something?"

"S'long story kid." Joey told him, which made the young boy groan a bit.

"I'm not a damn kid! I'm 13 years old, thank you very much!"

They day continued to go well as old friends and new friends talked and managed to find out interesting things. For one thing, Joey still relied on luck in duels, but not in Duel Monsters. Rather in games such as "dice" and poker. As for his win-loss record? Let's just say that he won and lost the same amount of money in a couple of days. Tristan and Duke also found one more rival for Serenity's heart in Ten Z. Luckily, the two haven't met yet, and they were hoping to keep it that way. Especially since Serenity was 15 going on 16, and Ten Z was damn near 21. It would be just begging for Miss Wheeler to call the cops.

However, the sun began to go down as everyone had to return home. Syd, who was supposed to be grounded for another day, and Ten Z, who had made other commitments elsewhere, were the firsts to leave. Téa, Tristan, and Duke were next to leave, as they both had a group project to be finished. Of course Mokuba left, seeing as Kaiba would be worried about him coming home, and knowing how the CEO felt about Joey. Leaving Arisa alone with the blonde…

"So Joey…" Arisa asked, lying beside him on the hospital bed. "When are you going to ask for some ice cream?"

"Again?" He replied in a somewhat whiny tone. "You've already had about five scoops!"

"Seven's my lucky number, but I'm feeling generous!" Arisa smiled. "One more scoop, and that'll be all!"

"Okay…I'll ask the nurse if she could get one more scoop for ya…" Joey said as he went to grab the device that was used to call the nurse.

"You two seem to be happy!" Serenity mused as she walked inside.

"An' where have you been all day?" Joey asked. He figured she'd show up with the rest of the guys, and Yugi was still MIA.

"I was here earlier, but after I saw Mom, I…" She sighed. "She just makes me so angry lately! First with you being in the hospital, now, after ten years ago when we left, and she still won't admit she was wrong, much less apologize. So I just took a walk around town thinking…"

"About what?"

Serenity turned away as she looked down at her white sneakers. "What if she never comes around? What if she still sees you the way she does now?"

"Look Serenity, at this point I don't care what she thinks about me." Joey sighed. "I've already realize that there's always somebody that'll eitha' misjudge or flat-out act with bias against ya. The only thing that matters is that you don't let 'em get to ya. I'll tell ya what, as much as they fight, Ma and Pops had plenty of things in common: They both fuck up their lives, they both fuck up each other lives, they've already nearly fucked up my life beyond the point of no return, and now they're trying to ruin your life though all of this mess. I'll be honest with ya, seen those kids who come to schools with guns?"

Serenity nodded, "It's scary when you think about it. I mean violence in schools?"

"Ya know what causes those things to happen? Anger and depression, specifically from loneliness! I was already feelin' lonely and depressed. I mean my life really sucked. I was already being discriminated because of who I was, where I lived, and my laughable economic status. I already had a drunk of a father, and you all know about Ma's 'parental duties'…or lack thereof. Tristan was the only real friend I had. At that point, I was already like 'If I am nothin' but a worthless street punk to these people, I'll give those bitches something to really bitch about!'

"Then Tristan and I met Yugi! He was a nice kid. He's still a nice kid, despite what's goin' on with him lately, and back then we hated that! I mean let's face it! He looked a bit short and wimpy and was too nice for his own good! He was basically a pushova, and it was up to us to toughen him up! After all, not everyone was nice and at the rate he was going, he was more likely to be tricked into going to some place and get anally raped. Much to my surprise, when Tristan and I got jumped that day, Yugi defended us, saying that we were his friends! Last I checked, stealing something that belonged to someone and then throwing it into the fountain wasn't very friendly. Of course, being the guilt-ridden softy that I am, I had to sneak into the school and find the puzzle piece."

"Wow…" Serenity blinked. "You were a real asshole!"

"Yeah… But Yugi ended up changing me… Got me into Duel Monstas which let me get rid of some of the built-up stress inside…" Joey then narrowed his eyes, "But that elitist piece of shit Kaiba had to get on my case, adding more stress for me to handle. It's like that prick doesn't have a life outside of pissin' me off, or sumthin'."

"Well look at it this way." Arisa smiled at the recovering blonde. "Kaiba's basically the reason why we're together!"

"WHAT?" Joey screamed as Serenity blinked. "THAT HAS GOTTA BE THE BIGGEST LOAD OF BULLSHIT I'VE EVAH HEARD!"

"Well think about it: If Kaiba haven't had pissed you off so much and got the teachers on his side, you wouldn't have made that outburst that made you go to anger management, and then you and I wouldn't have met and eventually be together!" She explained. In her mind, hopefully with this realization Joey won't be pissed off when he finds out that she and Kara are trying to make him and Kaiba become friends.

"Oh…right…" Joey looked down a bit, loathing the fact that there was one thing in this world he'd have to owe Kaiba for. Or was there? "But hey, it's not like we wouldn't have met! After all, it's basically fate, or destiny… oh way, it's just a bunch of…" Joey goes back to his pseudo-Kaiba voice, "'Hocus Pocus Fairy Tales!'"

This caused giggles from Serenity and Arisa. "Duke's right, you do sound just like Kaiba!" The blonde stated. "Thankfully you're not as much of a prick as Kaiba."

"That's a relief." Joey stated. "That's why I'm trying to flunk on purpose so I don't end up-" Joey then remembered that Serenity was still in the room. He did not tell her about him getting teachers to flunk him on purpose. One word came to mind: "Busted." He then mouthed, "Oh boy…"

"It's okay! I already know!" Serenity assured him.

Joey blinked. "You do? But how did ya-?"

"Well…" She smiled mischievously. "I was going to call a few friends of mine about a homework assignment and-"

His eyes narrowed, "You listened in 'Risa and mine's phone conversation didn't ya?"

"Well…"

Joey scoffed, "Figures…" That was the thing with Little Sisters: They were all capable of two things: Being a blabbermouth and getting into everyone's business. But at least it didn't negatively impact him… much.

However, unknown to him, or the two girls who were with him, from outside, a certain mother watched the whole thing as she began to have second thoughts. Perhaps her son wasn't as much as a bad seed as she thought… Perhaps she's misjudged him, not only lately, but during most of his life. Nevertheless, Miss Wheeler had a lot of making up and apologizing to do… to both her children.

Nighttime came as Serenity went home, with Arisa following suit about 30 minutes later. Leaving Joey alone to reflect on what's happened. His friends from the more dangerous side of town met his closet friends. Everyone got along okay…save for Mokuba and Ten Z, for obvious reasons. Joey and Ten Z might have gotten along well, but he couldn't blame Mokuba for reacting the way he did. If he had said something about Serenity, he would've had a Nike Air shoved so far up his ass.

Speaking of Serenity, Joey wondered just what else she knew about him that he didn't even knew she did. It was a good thing he didn't keep a journal or diary! For all he knew, it'd be a number one best seller. Was his life that intresting. With a sigh, Joey decided that it was best to get some rest. After all, the more rest he receive, the healthier he'd be, the sooner he could get out of here…

"Hello Joey…"

Joey blinked as he looked over to the side. He saw the face of someone he's been waiting to see, but was surprised to see him show up, due to circumstances. "Yugi! How are ya, pal?"

Yugi sighed, looking down to the floor as Joey saw how the past few days had been for him. He didn't seem to be the cheerful friend he had came to known over the years. He seemed to be broken, lost, and in pain. 'Man Tristan was right, Yugi really has gone Emo on us…' But at least he was here. "Things have been fair."

Joey noticed that Yugi wasn't looking at him face to face, nor was he even trying to. "Yugi, are you okay? C'mon, look at me."

"DAMN IT JOEY, HOW CAN I LOOK AT YOU? HOW CAN I LOOK AT YOU THE WAY YOU ARE NOW?" Yugi screamed as tears began to come from his eyes. "Just look at you! You're here in this bed, lucky to be alive! All because of me…!"

"Look Yugi, it wasn't your fault! You're not the one who pulled the trigger! You're not the one who even took you to the place, knowing that something like that can happen! If it's anyone's fault, it was mine for getting you there! I was the one who basically made you excited, god knows how I did it, to go there anyway! I should've just kept my mouth shut! Therefore, it's-"

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!" Yugi snapped! "First Grandpa, then my mom, and then Yami tried to say that it wasn't my fault to protect me! To keep me from punishing myself! Now you're trying to protect me, saying that none of this is my fault! Well damn it, it is! I don't need to be protected from anyone! Not you, not my mom, not Yami, not my Grandpa, or anyone! I can protect myself. And most importantly, I know how to protect myself!"

"What are ya talkin' about Yuge?" Joey asked, now deeply concerned for the blonde. There were only a few things in the world that scared him. Not as in things that would make him into a coward, mind you. But rather things that affected his family and friends! The people who he cared most about! Unfortunately, this was one of those things as Joey at that moment saw a sight he had never thought, much less hoped that he'd ever see. "Umm…Yugi…where'd ya get that?"

Yugi held up what appeared to be a jet black pistol in his hand. "I got it last night! Pretty cool, huh?"

Joey frantically shook his head. "No Yugi, that's not cool! That's not cool at all! You know how dangerous those things are!"

"I know that! But at least with this, nobody will ever mess with one of my friends again!" Yugi said coldly. "When I see Tyrell again, he'll wish that he never even bought that gun when I'm done with him!"

"No…Yugi, just don't do this!" Joey pleaded with the shorter boy. "I know that it looks that it's the only way, but believe me! Holdin' a gun? It's like an addiction! Once you shoot someone out of revenge, it won't stop a thing! They don' call it 'The Permanent Route' for nuthin'! Let's say that you do get Tyrell! Knowin' him, he's probably got his own posse who're looking for a reason to shoot someone! Revenge is how a gang war starts, Yugi! Then they'll be out for blood, going after everyone you care about, just to get to you! I'm already an easy target! Look at me! I'm lucky to be alive right now! I'm the one who got shot! It should be me who should be out for blood! But I know this, and take it from someone who _used_ to be in a gang! Violence is just going to make things worse! I've seen a lotta guys who get shot, let alone killed! Sure, this may earn ya a bit of Street Cred! But think about it in the long run: People won't wanna fuck with you, but other people, the people you do care about won't want to get close to you because they'll be afraid of you! Afraid of what you might do and what violence may happen while you're around! You'll be considered dangerous to be around. Do you want that, Yugi?"

"I… I…" Yugi closed his eyes, tears pouring out. "I DON'T WANT TO LOSE ANY FRIENDS!" He then dropped down to his knees. "IT'S MY FAULT! IT'S ALL MY FAULT! YOU TOLD ME THAT YOU DIDN'T WANT TO TAKE ME THERE AND YOU TOLD ME WHY! BUT I DIDN'T LISTEN! YOU TRIED TO WARN ME WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN, BUT I JUST KEPT PUSHING YOU TO TAKE ME THERE! AND NOW LOOK AT YOU! YOU ENDED UP TAKING A BULLET FOR KAIBA, ALL BECAUSE OF ME WANTING TO GO THERE! IF IT WASN'T FOR ME, KAIBA WOULDN'T HAVE FOLLOWED US AND YOU WOULDN'T BE HERE IN THE HOSPITAL RIGHT NOW! DAMN IT, EVERYTHING WOULD'VE BEEN BETTER IF IT WEREN'T FOR ME! I WISH I WAS NEVER BORN!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH YUGI!" Joey screamed. "SAY ANOTHER WORD AND I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL JUMP OUT OF THIS BED AND SMACK YOU ONE!" This was very harsh, he knew. But this was serious! Yugi was basically ready to throw his life and his innocence away by a simple pull of the trigger, and he was not to let that happen. He wasn't going to let Yugi reduce himself to becoming a thug, a street punk… Joey wasn't going to let Yugi reduce himself into becoming like him. That would've been a twist of cruel irony: Yugi becoming the thing Joey would've become if it weren't for him. "Just give me the gun Yugi."

"But I-"

"JUST…give me… the gun!" Joey said sternly, his rage once again building as Yugi reluctantly walked closer, trembling within each step. He could sense the emotion inside of Joey as he saw the fearful look in his eyes. This wasn't the common "Run for your life" fear, but more of the "I can't believe this is happening" kind. As he held up the gun, his grip was still tight. But gradually, it became more and more loose the nearer he came. When he was at the bar of the bed, Joey took the gun from his hand.

"This never happened…" Was all Joey said! What he was going to do was simple: He was going to hold onto the gun, and if anyone asked, it belonged to him. He was going to have it just incase someone tried to finish the job at the hospital. Yugi never came to the hospital tonight! Hell, Yugi never even held a gun, much less bought one. His life was already fucked, but at least he could save Yugi's from that same fate.

"Joey… I'm…" Yugi tried to speak, but Joey cut him off.

"This never happened, Yugi!" He repeated. "You never even showed up, tonight!"

Yugi nodded as before he went to leave, he said his last words. "Joey… I'm sorry…"

As Joey watched Yugi leave, he couldn't help but feel that a part of him died. Out of all people, he'd never thought that Yugi would hold a grudge much less one which would involve the use of a gun. To Joey, Yugi was somewhat of a role model to him. He never told this to anyone, not even Arisa or Serenity, but he always thought if he did as half as many good things Yugi did, maybe he'd at least go from a thug to a not-so hopeless commoner. Maybe improving his life from the better! But instead, he just saw Yugi almost make the biggest mistake of his life and, as much as everyone would disagree, and Tristan and Arisa would probably smack him for thinking it, it was Joey's fault! He played a small part, if any, of nearly robbing Yugi of his innocence and bringing him down to his level. And so that night, as a tear came from his eyes, Joey silently cried… cried for what could've happened to Yugi if he didn't had stopped him.

* * *

What started off as a cheerful chapter soon turned depressing and heartbreaking. Next chapter, "Operation: Enemies to Friends" goes underway as Kara deals with Kaiba. 


	28. A Date At Kaiba Corp

**Chapter 28: **A Date At Kaiba Corp.

Kara sighed to herself as she walked into the building that was Kaiba Corp. Certainly Kaiba was there, right? Of course he was there! From what she's heard, he practically lives there from how often he's working on his machines there. He's basically pulling all nighters all the time, so for one thing he's not thinking healthy. Another thing, lately he's been very negligent of Mokuba. Funny that the reason why he decided to do something he wants no part of isn't exactly on his current priority list. She decided to make a mental note to when they went on their first date, make sure Kaiba has the time of his life without for one minute thinking about work.

Kara blinked as she realized her thoughts. Did she just thought about them, her and Kaiba, dating? Now Arisa will tease her to no ends about this, if she and Joey don't give her their list of "100 Reasons Not To Date Kaiba!" If everything goes as well as she planned, she won't have to deal with that possible problem.

As she walked towards the elevator, Kara was stopped by a tall man in a black suit, save for a pair of sunglasses. As she noticed the thin mustache, she recognized him as Roland. Kaiba's bodyguard and most trusted employee.

"Halt!" He said towards her. "Unless you have an appointment, all unauthorized personnel are forbidden beyond this point."

'Uh oh…' Kara thought. She should've known that getting to Kaiba's office wouldn't be so easy. The worst-case scenario was that she would be escorted from the premises, unable to return. There was the mansion but she would have an even harder time getting in there. Without any options, Kara said the only thing that she was able to.

"I'm here to see Mr. Kaiba. Has Mokuba not told you that I would be meeting his brother today?" Kara mentally slapped herself. How…no… _why_ would anyone believe that she could've got clearance to see the CEO of this company from his kid brother? She'd expected this kind of irresponsibility from Arisa, as much as she loved her to death, but to her standards this was appalling. She was ready to be shown to the door.

"Of course! Right this way, Miss." He said as Kara proceeded to walk through. She might have shown no concern over the events, but in her head she was trying to register this whole thing out. For one, she didn't even talk to Mokuba today, let alone that she was going to Kaiba Corp to talk to Seto Kaiba. Perhaps Mokuba was either expecting someone else to arrive or that these things happen more often. The latter of the possible explanations appeared to be the right choices as she overheard Roland say to himself, "Kid's trying to play matchmaker again…"

As Kara stepped into the elevator, she began to sigh and rethink how she was going to do things. Her plan was basically to play psychiatrist and see what was it that made Seto Kaiba into the…well… person he was now. She had already got the idea that his stepfather, Gozaburo Kaiba, played a huge role. But she felt that there was only one factor that played a role through all of this. Her last resort, of course, would be her Millennium Cross. To the ill-informed, it would be believed to be an 8th Millennium Item. However, it was not the case. It was more like a lighter version of the Millennium Item. For one thing the cross ornament was only three inches tall and was missing the Eye of Horus that appeared on the seven Millennium Items. Its power was that it could read minds, control their movements, and even visit their unconsciousness. This tool could become a psychiatrist's best friend. Too bad it was only one of a kind…

"_Are you sure you want to do this, Kara?"_ That familiar voice asked her.

"I'm sure of it! I know that there's something that's hunting him. And besides, it'll at least give me some experience before I major in Psychology in a year or so."

"_You know that this won't be easy. A man like Kaiba isn't easily convinced."_

Kara clutches the cross, "He may think that all of this is some 'hocus pocus mind trick,' but I have a feeling that all of this is going to change very soon."

"_I truly hope you know what you're doing…"_

The elevator has made it to the top floor as Kara entered the work area that would lead to the office of the CEO. She already knew his initial reaction. "I have a company to run! I don't have time for this! Besides, I had enough of this mind-bind-find crap from group without you bringing it here!" She could already feel the stares coming from the employees, as if she was some crazed fangirl of his who didn't knew any better, was a total airhead, or both. Arisa already told Kara she was crazy for this whole "Operation: Enemies to Friends crap that'll end up fucked for all parties." Hopefully she would have an easier time with Joey than she would with Kaiba. She had already made a pre-judgment that Joey was the more reasonable of the two. And since it was her idea, it was only fitting that she took on the harder of the two. As she knocked on the door she got a rather cold response…

"What now?"

Kara sighed, at least Kaiba was there. Even if he didn't appear to be in any mood for visitors, she wasn't going to stop. She's came too far to do so. As she placed her hand on the doorknob, she opened the door before walking in…

There he was, Seto Kaiba… typing away on his computer at his desk with his eyes narrowed. Kara sighed, wasn't he happy about _anything_? It was a beautiful day outside for crying out loud! Perfect for a picnic, bike riding, rollerblading, even a nice stroll in the park. And how did he spend it? By sitting here being al cooped up in his office! Well that's going to change…

"How did they let you up here?"

Kara was taken from her line of thought as she saw the blue piercing eyes directly towards her. Apparently Kaiba was in no mood for visitors, let alone psychiatric-like girls who did nothing but wasted his time.

"Oh wait…Mokuba sent you here, didn't he?" Kaiba assumed as he shook his head. "I told that kid not to worry about my personal life. He's always said that I needed to go out and have some fun, meet a girl, bring her home, and…" He shook his head, "I don't know how the hell he keeps finding out about this stuff."

Kara couldn't help but giggle at Kaiba's frustration with raising his little brother. It was quite amusing. He's not even old enough to graduate and yet he feels like he's Mokuba's father. "You have to admit he's just looking out for your best interests."

"Spare me, the only thing Mokuba needs to focus on is defending himself and pay attention to the people he decides to associate with. Especially Wheeler! Just being around that chump could get your shot…"

Kara sighed at Kaiba's comments about Joey. This was going to be a lot tougher than she had realized. But she won't give up. "What did Joey do now?"

"Wheeler's the bane of my existence! Everything that's been going downhill in my life lately is either because of him or connected towards him! Did you know that he has some friends who are as much of a street punk and a thug as he is? Did you know that said friends were the ones who mugged Mokuba? And it was his fault that I almost got shot?"

"From what Arisa told me, Joey was the one who save your life, after you basically provoked one of them into shooting at you." Kara frowned.

Kaiba rolled his eyes, "Mallovic has the naivety of a child who believes everything she hears. I would say that she needs to grow up, but that would be stating the obvious."

"Is there any particular reason why you have so much hatred for them both?"

Kaiba shook his head. He didn't even know why he was talking to her about issues that didn't concern her. Perhaps it was better than telling that psychiatrist Deliah in front of those other idiots, let alone Wheeler and Mallovic. "Mallovic is just an annoying gnat that needs to be squashed! And Wheeler deserves as much as humiliation he can get at every opportunity, because he's just a low-class, worthless pile of shit who thinks he's worth something and dares to treat those who are far superior than he'll ever be in his pathetic life like they're one of his pathetic street thug friends who'll more than likely shoot someone or drinking a '40' on the steps with their 'homies' talking about how the man's keeping them down."

"So this ridiculous little feud between you and Joey's that deep."

Kaiba scoffed, "You wanna know how much Wheeler respects me? After the fool got shot, do you know the last thing he said to me? He called me an elitist piece of shit! What kind of a person saves someone's life and insults them afterwards. The only reason why he even bothered was because Yugi was there. And if he wasn't there, he'd probably be the one to shoot me anyway!"

"Do you really think that Joey hates you that much?"

"Let me put it to you this way: Usually Wheeler would've gladly taken my challenge by now. But now he's publicly stated that he doesn't want anything to do with me!" Kaiba narrowed his eyes as he turned back to his computer. "Now if you excuse me, I have a company to run! I trust you know how to use the door…"

Kara just looked at the brunette as she just sighed. This no-so little situation between Joey and Kaiba was even worse than she first expected. Looks like more serious measures would have to be taken…

Kaiba scoffed as he looked through the documents displayed on the screen. Kara had some nerve… first she somehow came up here, thanks to Mokuba then she actually had the audacity to ask him if she hated that idiot savant Wheeler and his toddler for a girlfriend? Please…Kaiba had better things to do than to even think about those losers. He had some projects to check up on. However, those projects would have to wait, because at that moment, the screen instantly turned off as the sound of the CPU suddenly went silent. "What the-" Kaiba turned around, and with a glare, he saw the source for the impromptu CPU shutdown. "WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY? DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK TO AQUIRE THAT DATA?" He screamed.

The calm expression on Kara's face remained unchanged as she held up the plug to the surge protector that held the plug to the CPU and monitor. "Don't worry, you'll make it up in a day or so! Maybe you can pull an all nighter like you usually do. Y'know, working all night without even spending time with your brother, who's probably _always_ worried about you and misses you!"

"What's between me and Mokuba is none of your concern!" Kaiba hissed as he grabbed a phone. "This discussion is over. You better leave right now, or do I need to give you an escort. And believe me, it won't be pleasant."

Kara raised an eyebrow, "You're going to call security on me?" She asked. "I bet you will not."

"Watch me…" Kaiba went forward to call security. However, before his finger could touch the red button on his phone, a bright flash filled the room as the young CEO found himself unable to move yet again… "Not this again…"

"I believe that we have not finished yet!" Kara said, in a more calm tone as once again, her hair was straightened and her eyes narrow towards the now-paralyzed Kaiba.

"Let me guess… you're now 'Kisara,' right?"

"Kara wanted to handle this peacefully, but now I will have to do this my way." Kara…or Kisara rather walked forward to the black phone as she then proceeded to disconnect the phone cord from the phone.

Kaiba managed to look at the bluehead with his eye as much as he could in his current state. "Damn…"

"Now Kaiba, it is time for a little one-on-one therapy session."

"What are you going to do? Mind Crush me?" Kaiba hissed towards the girl. …Well… as possible as he could in his current position.

"I was thinking of a more calm approach…" Kisara explained as she proceeded to "release" Kaiba. "Comfortable?"

"Comfortable? COMFORTABLE? YOU COME HERE, RUIN WEEKS OF WORK, AND TRY THAT HOCUS POCUS BULLSHIT ON ME – AGAIN, AND YOU'RE ASKING IF I'M COMFORTABLE?" Kaiba soon felt soft, but firm hands on his shoulders…

"Relax…" Kisara said in a soft voice.

"How can I relax when there's a witch standing right here in my office?" Kaiba muttered which earned him a hard squeeze on his neck.

"You should be careful who you call a witch." Kisara advised as she continued the massage. "Now close your eyes, and relax…" She said in a soft voice. "Close your eyes, and just relax…"

Kaiba scoffed, "Why, so you can kill me in my sleep or something?"

"If I wanted to kill you Kaiba, wouldn't you think that I would've done so by now?"

"Whatever…" Kaiba sighed as he decided that it was best to play along, just to humor her. He had no idea where this therapy session was going, but he had a feeling that he was not going to like it. But he would have no choice but to go along with it, anyway. If he did anything against her, she could freeze him in an instant, rendering him helpless. So in truth, this was basically a lose-lose situation. But he really didn't like this whole thing, then why did the soft, smooth hands that were currently massaging his shoulders feel so good? Was he actually liking this, what Kara…Kisara…whatever the hell she wanted to call herself was doing to him?

"Just relax…" Kisara said softly as the CEO slowly closed his eyes, losing himself to the comfort the woman behind him was giving him. After a few more moments, the CEO was soon asleep. As Kisara moved a hand in front of the CEO's face, she was half expecting him to grab it and take her by surprise by flipping her over. But then again, knowing how often he works and how little sleep he gets every night, it was understandable.

"_You've put Kaiba to sleep, now what are we going to do?"_ Kara asked in an unhappy tone.

"Simple. We will go into his mind." Kisara replied placing a hand on her cross.

"_Are you sure about this? Have you even _tried_ this before?"_

"While I understand your concern for him, for someone as unreasonable and unreadable as Kaiba, we have no choice."

"_I just don't want Seto to get some mental damage from this…"_ Kara gasped, _"I just called him-"_

"It's alright. I understand that you have feelings for him. Now…" Kisara looked down at the now slumbering form of Kaiba. "Only one of us can enter his mind while the other must remain in this body." She sighs. "I won't be long…"

"_Wait… let me go into his mind."_

The blue haired girl blinked. "Kara, are you sure. You do know the possible risks you may take. What you are about to see are Kaiba's memories. Who knows what kind of demons he may have held within…"

"_I understand… And as a psychiatrist, I must do whatever I can in my power to help my patients. And as far as I'm concerned, Seto Kaiba is my number one patient right now."_

Kisara nodded, "Okay Kara, but be careful." She advised as the golden cross around her neck began to glow…

…

As blue eyes opened, their owner looked around, only to find a funeral site. She was wondering how she had gotten here. Wasn't she just at Kaiba Corp, more specifically Kaiba's office a moment ago? As she took a more detailed examination of the graveyard she was currently at, Kara had realized that not only was she no longer at Kaiba Corp, she wasn't even in Domino. With a sigh, Kara decided that it was best to find a way out of here.

In her honest opinion, Kara didn't care for graveyards. In fact, she hated them. Not because of the creepy zombie horror stories some people tell at campfires or movies, she was too mature for that kind of ridiculousness. But because they bring back cold memories for her. That night while both her mother and her father were on their way back from a retirement party for her mother's co-workers. However, there was one man who got drunk that night. Obviously not in the best shape to be driving home, let alone at night. Thanks to the idiot who crashed into her parents' car…" A tear came from her left eye. The memory was just too emotional for her to suppress. Thanks to that idiot, she had lost both of her parents. And if that bastard had not died from his injuries from the crash, she would've wished for the power to kill him herself. To make him pay for taking her parents away from her. For making her into an orphan!

Kara shook her head. The worst was over now. She now had a new family who cared for her very much, but at times she still remembered her parents. Wondering what they would think of their little girl now. She continued to walk over before noticing a small group of people near a gravesite. From the presence of a priest, they were in a middle of a service for someone…

"I wonder who died…" She said to herself as she decided to walk over to take a closer look. From what she could see, there were plenty of tears being shed. He saw the look of one man. His black hair and grey eyes looked a bit familiar to her. Where did she see those eyes before? From the look on his face, he was devastated. Broken, lost, call it whatever you would. As he periodically turned to a woman carrying a baby in her arms, his eyes narrowed a bit. Not to the woman, but to the infant in her arms. He must've been crazy if he had so much contempt for an innocent, harmless infant.

Kara blinked at what, or who rather, she saw next to the woman. A little boy who couldn't be older than four years of age, tears in his blue eyes. His brunette hair also was familiar. It was he was…yeah, throw a trench coat on him and piss him off and he'd be a Mini-Kaiba.

That was it! He looked exactly like Seto Kaiba! But what did it mean? Was he some relative he never told anyone about? Or some failed cloning experiment from a rival company. She decided to move closer, apparently joining the group in their mourning. It wasn't as if she wasn't properly dressed, aside from her white sleeveless blouse, she was dressed in all black. With a sigh, she stood next to the woman holding the baby.

"Are you here to pay respects?" The woman asked as the baby in her arms babbled a bit.

Kara nodded, "I apologize if it's a bit low and irresponsible of me, but who is the one who died?"

The woman looked down towards the baby as a small tear began to come from her right eye. "The deceased is my sister. She died after giving birth."

"Oh…" Kara sighed, as she looked down. Wouldn't that be a way to die: Bringing another to this world at the cost of your own life. She apologized, "I'm sorry…"

"It's alright!" The older woman said to the blue-haired girl. "While my sister Kyoko may have left us, she did leave us a darling little angel in Mokie here."

Kara blinked. Mokie? If "Mokie" was short for what she thought it was… "Excuse me, but would 'Mokie' happen to be short for 'Mokuba?'"

She smiled, "Why of course! Do you happen to know my brother-in-law? Odd, he's never mentioned anything about you, Young Lady."

"Well…something like that?" Kara looked towards the little boy again before her eyes widened in a mixture of shock and realization. "If the baby being held by the lady she was talking to was Mokuba, then the little boy standing besides the emotionally-broken man was Seto Kaiba! But how could this be possible! Kaiba was 17 and Mokuba was going on 13 years of age! She couldn't have possibly went back in time, she didn't had any knowledge of such device that could do that, but when she thought about it further one thing was for certain…

Kara was now inside the mind of Seto Kaiba, more specifically his memories.

* * *

Now that Kara is in Kaiba's mind, or more specifically his memories, what will happen next? What other secrets will she find out about the CEO? We'll find out in the next installment.


	29. Grudge Match – Arisa vs Téa

**Chapter 29: **Grudge Match – Arisa vs. Téa

"So, Cheerleader?" Arisa mused as the dueling platforms rose up. "Have you ever dueled before, and I don't mean that duel with Joey. Because from what I've heard, all he had was monster cards. No spells, no traps, nothing to support his deck, so anyone could've beaten him." She decided that immediately after school, they would meet at the Kaibaland Dueling Arena where they would settle their issues once and for all by doing…well…. What everyone seems to be doing these days to settle a problem: Duel. She didn't tell Tristan, Duke, Serenity or anyone about this so she wouldn't have to humiliate her in front of their friends. Also, with Joey still at the hospital and Kara currently dealing with Kaiba, there wouldn't be anyone around to save _her_ this time…

Téa narrowed her eyes as she placed her deck on the platform. Right now, she wanted to yank that blonde hair from the little troll's head and shove it down her throat. But this duel was the better option. She knew that she's beaten Joey before, since back then he didn't even have any Spell or Trap cards and was basically a noob, and at Duelist Kingdom, she did beat Mai Valentine to win Yugi the star chips to replace the ones he lost to Kaiba.

On the other hand, she didn't even know how good Arisa was, except from what Joey said about her running a Union/Removal hybrid deck. Nevertheless, she was not about to let her get the best of her. "I think I know how to handle myself. Thanks for the concern, but frankly, I should be asking you that question. After all, I know all about the deck you have, while you don't know anything about mine!"

"Oh you do, do you?" The blonde smirked. "Well…don't believe everything you hear, Taye-Taye. 'Cause with what I have, you're about to be put into a shock."

"Let's get started already! I do have some homework to do!" Téa reminded, as the two were now ready to duel.

Téa: 8000  
Arisa: 8000

"Ladies first!" Téa drew a card as Arisa narrowed her eyes. The brunette then looked down to the six cards she had in her hand: Skelengel, Premature Burial, Dancing Fairy, Gift of the Mystical Elf, and Gift of the Pure. It was time to see just exactly whom exactly she was dealing with. "I'll place down one monster card facedown, and that'll end it for me."

It was Arisa's turn to draw a card as she looked at it as well as her other five cards: Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, Robbin' Zombie, Old Vindictive Magician, Magician's Circle, Gemini Elf, and Magical Dimension. She could destroy Téa's facedown monster with Magical Dimension, but that would mean having to sacrifice whatever monster she would summon first, but then she would also be able to special summon a monster. It was best to save it for later rather than wasting it now… "Okay Téa, I'll place one monster and one card facedown and end my turn as well."

Téa was appalled as she drew her card, being Solemn Wishes. She was expecting Arisa to do something, but other than that facedown card, all she did was do just exactly what she just did. It didn't matter, as it wouldn't be much use. "First, I'll reveal my facedown monster, Skelengel (900/400)." She said as an invisible angel that could only be seen by his hands, wings, feet, crown, and bow. When this card is flipped face up, I can draw one more card." She explained as she drew one card, Fire Princess. "Next, I'll summon Fire Princess (1300/1500) in attack mode!" She explained as a girl with long, dirty blonde hair and wearing a long red gown appeared on the field. The plan was simple: Téa would attack Arisa's facedown monster with Skelengel and destroying it, leaving Arisa wide open for Fire Sorcerer's direct attack. But what if Arisa's monster was a wall monster?

"Now Fire Princess, attack Arisa's facedown monster!" Téa ordered, "Magic Burning attack!" As the Fire Princess thrust her wooden-like wand towards Arisa, a stream of fire shot from thin air towards the facedown monster, revealing it to be Old Vindictive Magician (450/600) who threw out a spell of his own…

"Sorry, you activated my Old Vindictive Magician's ability. When it's flipped up, I can destroy one monster on the field, whether if it's in attack or defense position. And now it's time to say Goodbye to your Skelengel!"

"What?" Téa blinked as the released spell proceeded to destroy the Semi-Invisible angel as she groaned. "I'll place one card facedown and end my turn."

"My turn!" Arisa chimed as she drew a card as a smirk came to her face. It was the card that she won from Joey from the little bet back at the arcade, one of his three Red Eyes Black Dragons. From the standard art of the dragon, it was the one Joey won from Rex Raptor, while his second he was lucky enough to get from a pack and his third being won from an Ante duel. It would have to be saved for later since she didn't have any monsters on the field, let alone enough to tribute for it. Arisa made a mental note to ask Joey to "borrow" one of his Red Eyes Black Chicks. They were so common in packs he should have more than enough by now.

Back to the duel… "Okay Téa, now to show you what you're dealing with!" She said as she flipped her facedown card. "I'll activate my trap card, Robbin' Zombie. Whenever one of my monsters inflicts battle damage to your Life Points, one card from the top of your deck is sent to the grave. I just hope that I don't have a monster card that has an attack higher than 1300! Oh wait, I do!" She said as she proceeded with her normal summoning. "I'll summon Gemini Elf (1900/900) in attack mode!" She announced as two elf girls appeared on the field: A redhead dressed in purple, a blonde dressed in blue. "Hmm…1900 minus 1300 equals 600 points of damage to you!"

Téa narrowed her eyes, "For now, thanks to my trap card, it'll just be a 100 Life Point loss." She muttered to herself.

"Now Gemini Elf, destroy Téa's Fire Princess!" Arisa ordered as the two girls fired off dual spells towards the Fire Sorceress, destroying her as Téa took damage to her Life Points:

Téa: 7400  
Arisa: 8000

"And now my Robbin Zombie trap card takes effect. Hope it's not a card that you need!" Arisa teased as a decayed hand from the graveyard and proceeded to take one of Téa's cards, which was revealed to be Black Pendant.

"Before you can end your turn, I'll activate my trap card, Solemn Wishes." Téa announced as she revealed the card. "Now every time I draw, I gain 500 life points. It basically makes all of that work for nothing, eh 'Risa?"

"Whatever, I end my turn!" Arisa sighed. Unmoved by the extra Life Point gain Téa would receive.

Téa drew a card, as via Solemn Wishes effect she gained Life Points…

Téa: 7900  
Arisa: 8000

She looked at the card: Pot of Greed. This could come in handy with what she was about to pull. "Arisa, now it's your turn to feel pain." The brunette declared as she placed a Spell card on the field. "I'll activate the Spell Card, Premature burial." She explained as her life points decreased once again…

Téa: 7100  
Arisa: 8000

"For 800 Life Points, I can bring back one of my monsters from the graveyard! And I chose my Fire Princess!" She said as from the ground, the Fire Femme Fatale rose up like a phoenix reborn. Next, I'll play another Spell Card, Soul of the Pure, increasing my Life Points by 1000…" She announced as a female, blonde angel came down from the heavens and released small orbs of light that rained on top of Téa, increasing her Life Points…

Téa: 8100  
Arisa: 8000

"And since Fire Princess is on the field when I gain Life Points, you take 500 Life Points worth of damage!"

Arisa winced as she felt the heat that was emitted from the Fire-attribute monster as her life Points decreased…

Téa: 8100  
Arisa: 7500

"And I'm not done yet! I'll then activate another Spell card: Pot of Greed. Allowing me to draw two more cards!" She exclaimed as she proceeded to draw as, due to Solemn Wishes' effect, her life points increased…

Téa: 8600  
Arisa: 7500

"And of course, you know what'll happen next, right?" Téa teased as Arisa once again took damage…

Téa: 8600  
Arisa: 7000

Téa looked down at the two cards she just drew: Marie The Fallen One and Graceful Charity. Marie The Fallen One's 1700 attack couldn't take down Arisa's Gemini Elf, but if she could keep Fire Princess on the field, thanks to her special effect, she'd just need to send the Fallen Angel to the grave and she could continue hitting Arisa with even more burn damage. Speaking of Burn Damage…

"And now I'll activate Graceful Charity!" She announced, as an angel dressed in a light brownish-colored robes flew upward, raining down small orbs of light. "With this card, I can draw three cards from my deck, but I'll have to discard two!" Téa proceeded in drawing her three cards: Magician of Faith, Polymerization, and Dark Magician Girl. Now she had to discard two. One of them being Marie the Fallen one of course! The other card, she decided, would be Dancing Fairy, but it wouldn't be as much as a loss as Arisa was going to take. "And since I drew, I get 500 more Life Points…"

"What-ever!" Arisa scoffed as Téa's Life Points increased…

Téa: 9100  
Arisa: 7000

"And since I gained Life Points…" Téa began to remind the blonde…

"I know… I lose Life Points…" Arisa sighed as her Life Points dropped.

Téa: 9100  
Arisa: 6500

"And I'm not done yet! Now I'll activate Polymerization!" Téa announced as the fusion vortex appeared above her. "Now, I'll fuse my Fire Princess with my Dark Magician Girl in my hand to summon…" As Dark Magician Girl appeared on the field alongside Fire Princess, they were both pulled into the vortex. As soon as the fusion was finish, a new monster appeared on the field. It appeared to be Dark Magician Girl, only much different. Her golden flowing blonde hair was now in an ash blonde color and wavy, as her eyes were gray and narrowed. Her outfit changed as she wore a dark red loincloth that reached down to her feet, which were clad in black boots, which went up to her knees. Her top was the same, save for the dark-red color, as her hat was gone! Save for the wand, which was black as coal. "Arisa, meet the Fire Empress Magician (2750/1800)!"

"Whoa…" Arisa was taken back by her appearance. She didn't even know that other than her Dunames Dark Magician Witch, there wasn't another Dark Magician Girl fusion. She guessed if Dark Magician could have at least two fusions, why not his apprentice?

"And when Fusion Summoned, Fire Empress Magician gets one spell counter that increases her ATK points by 300, but that'll come to play later." The brunette explained as a red orange orb of light surrounded the Fire Spellcaster (3050/1800).

"This…can't be good…" The shorter blonde exclaimed.

"Fire Empress Magician, destroy her Gemini Elf! Burning Magic Attack!" magical Empress of flames made a circular motion with her wand as a few symbols of witchcraft appeared around it. As the top began to glow bright red, with one thrust of the wand, a barrage of Fire-Elemental spells fired right onto the two elves, destroying them both as Arisa took more damage…

Téa: 9100  
Arisa: 5350

"Whatever edge you had against me is gone now! And to be honest, I expected more of a challenge from you! But so far, I've been a bit under-worked." Téa taunted as Arisa's eyes narrowed.

"What did you say?" She snapped.

"You heard me! You don't have any monsters on the field, and whatever card that you have in your hand, I doubt that it'll be strong enough to destroy my Fire Empress Magician." Téa smiled sweetly, "I'll end my turn, but you can give up now if you'd like."

"Me? Give up to you?" Arisa scoffed, "As if!" She drew a card as she looked down. A smile formed on her face as she summoned. "I'll summon Apprentice Magician (600/800) in attack mode!" She announced as a spiky-blonde haired male magician appeared on the field, holding a staff! "Téa… Can I ask ya a question?"

"What now, Arisa?" She replied.

"Just how attached are you to that monster card you have on the field? It's your favorite, right?"

"Not that you'd care, but it's one of my favorite monsters. Why you ask?"

"Oh, no reason…" Arisa innocently said, then grinned. "'Cept for the fact that I'm definitely not going to feel bad when I play this: Magical Dimension!" She announced as a glass box appeared on the field with a golden tomb inside. "All I have to do is place my Apprentice Magician inside for a tribute…" The blonde magician places himself inside of the box as chains then wrap around it. "Then, I can bring out another Spellcaster monster from my hand!" The chains become undone as the tomb opens up, revealing a warrior-like monk with half a mask covering his face. "Welcome Kycoo, the Ghost Destroyer (1800/700)." She exclaimed.

"Please, my Fire Empress Magician has more attack-What?" Téa blinked as she saw her own monster disappearing. "W-what happened?"

"Didn't I mention that I could also destroy one monster on your side of the field?" Arisa smirked, "Now you're wide open…"

"I knew I should've placed a monster facedown…" Téa sighed, as Arisa was ready for an attack.

"Now Kycoo, attack Téa directly!" Arisa ordered as Kycoo cast a spell that hit Téa directly as her Life Point's decreased…

Téa: 7300  
Arisa: 5350

"And now Kycoo's special ability activates…" Arisa explained as Kycoo threw Anti-Ghost tags towards the brunette's graveyard. "I can select two monsters to remove from play! Of course I'm going to remove Fire Empress Magician so you won't use her again. And to avoid any more Life Point gain than there already is, I'll be removing Marie the Fallen One as well.

Téa could only watch as Arisa proceeded to remove the only monster that could secure her advantage as well as the monster that'd continue to allow her to gain Life Points from the game.

"And don't forget the effect of Robbin' Zombie! Since you took battle damage, you lose one card from the top of your deck!

Téa's eyes went wide as that same grotesque hand took one card from her deck, revealing it to be Monster Reborn, much to Arisa's satisfaction. "Who wants to give up now?" The blonde taunted.

"Aren't you arrogant…" Téa drew a card as, by the effects of Solemn Wishes, her Life Points increased.

Téa: 7800  
Arisa: 5350

She looked at the card. It wasn't much, but at least it could avoid Arisa attacking her Life Points for the time being. "I'll place one monster facedown and end my turn!"

"That's it? C'mon, I was hoping for a bit more!" Arisa drew a card as she then smiled. The card she drew was her own Dark Magician Girl, but it wasn't the same one as her opponent's in terms of art. Like Yugi's Dark Magician, there were three different appearances of the Dark Magician Girl. The standard green-eyed blonde dressed in Blue and Pink, which she owned, but there were two different appearances. The Dark Magician Girl Arisa just drew was tanned with blue hair, red eyes, and was dressed in Black and Red instead of the usual Blue and Pink. She liked to call her the Pandora Dark Magician Girl. As much as she really wanted to rock Téa's world right now, she didn't want to sacrifice her main tool of removal. Not while she, despite the amount of Life Points, was at an advantage. But looking through her hand again, which contained a Trap Card, a 1-tribute monster, and a 2-tribute monster, the blonde found that she was not at such an advantage after all…

Arisa sighed, "I'll skip summoning a monster and just cut straight to the attack!" She declared. "Kycoo, attack Téa's facedown monster!" The Ghost Destroyer released another spell towards the facedown monster, it was revealed to be Nimble Momonga (1000/100).

"Why thank you Arisa!" Téa chirped as her Life Points increased…

Téa: 8800  
Arisa: 5350

"When you destroy Nimble Momonga, I gain 1000 Life Points. Also, I can place more Nimble Momongas facedown on my side of the field. So if you want to get near my Life Points, you're going to end up giving me 2000 Life Points."

"Aww…" Arisa sighed, "I'll place one card face down and end my turn! Now go!"

"Gladly…" Téa drew a card as her Life Points increased…

Téa: 9300  
Arisa: 5350

She played the same card she just drew, "I'll play Monster Reincarnation by sending one card from my hand to the graveyard to bring one monster from the graveyard back to my hand." Téa exchanged her Gift from the Mystical Elf in her hand with her Dark Magician Girl in the card graveyard. "Now, I'll sacrifice my facedown Nimble Momonga to summon the monster card I just brought back from my graveyard: Dark Magician Girl."

Arisa watched as the female Dark Magician, through the Nimble Momonga's sacrifice, entered the field with a playful pose. Then, she winked at Téa as she then prepared for an Attack.

"I'll flip up my other Nimble Momonga since let's face it Arisa, you're about to be wide open for an attack!" Téa now declared her attack. "Dark Magician Girl, attack Arisa's Ghost Destroyer with Dark Burning Attack!" The Blonde Magical Cutie pointed her staff towards the Monk-like Spellcaster as a bright magical attack fired towards him…

"Activate Trap Card!" Arisa announced, "Magician's Circle! When a Spellcaster-Type monster attacks, we both can summon 1 Spellcaster monster from our decks, as long as their ATK is no more than 2000! And I'll chose _my_ Dark Magician Girl!" With that declaration, Another Dark Magician girl appeared. Unlike Téa's Dark Magician Girl and the one that was in Arisa's hand, this one had pink hair instead of blonde, blue eyes instead of green, and a white and baby blue dress instead of a blue and pink one.

Téa's eyes were wide? "That's a Dark Magician Girl?"

"Duh! The Dark Magician has three different appearances, so of course his apprentice would too! And here I thought you were a Dark Magician Girl master… Oh wait, that's me."

"Whatever, that doesn't stop my Dark Magician Girl's attack…"

Téa: 9300  
Arisa: 5150

Téa narrowed her eyes. "For someone who hates him, you sure are acting a lot like Kaiba!"

"What? You're actually comparing me to that elitist jerk, Kaiba?"

"You've been taunting me ever since this duel's started. Face it Arisa, you've been everything you hate about Kaiba: Loudmouthed, arrogant, and insult-happy!"

Arisa gave the brunette a vicious glare. "_Never_… compare me to that fucking egotistical, selfish, elitist piece of shit bitch! When I tease someone I don't do it to make them feel bad or worse about themselves! It's only out of good innocent fun! While Kaiba does it just to avenge the fact that someone who's not as rich or powerful as him, especially someone who doesn't kisses his ass, can stand up to his level and maybe even surpass him! He basically goes after anyone and everyone who can at least put a dent into Rich Boy's huge ego."

"Alright Arisa… chill!" Téa sighed. "I'll end my turn…"

Arisa closed her eyes as she placed two fingers on top of her deck. While she could block Téa's Dark Magician Girl with her own, her Life Points just continued to increase more and more within each turn! Perhaps she had underestimated her! She though that it was going to be a quick squash! Now she'll really have to play her cards right if she's going to have any chance at beating her. Her monsters were just annoyances while the real problem was her Solemn Wishes trap card.

'Please let me draw the right card…' She prayed as she picked up the card. Her eyes then went wide. 'Alright, now this could change everything!'

Arisa looks at Téa, "Now I'll play Graceful Charity by drawing three cards then discarding two…" She drew the following cards: Dunames Dark Witch, Polymerization, and White Light, before discarding her other Dark Magician Girl and Red Eyes Black Dragon. 'Talk about a top deck…' "First, I'll play this Spell card: White Light!"

"White Light?" Téa blinked.

"Blue Eyes have 'Burst Stream of Destruction,' Dark Magician has 'Dark Magic Attack,' Red Eyes has 'Inferno Fire Blast,' and now Dark Magician Girl has 'White Light!'" Arisa explained proudly. "After using this card, Dark Magician Girl can't attack on the same turn. But it'll be worth it, since it destroys all cards on your side of the field! Including your Solemn Wishes!"

"This can't be good…"

"Now Dark Magician Girl, White Light!" Arisa announced as the pink-haired Dark Magician Girl unleashed from her staff a rain of white light that engulfed the entire dueling field. As soon as the light dissolved, Téa's entire field was empty… "And that's not all! Remember my costume back at the dance?"

Téa raised an eyebrow. "Well…yeah?"

"Good, because guess who's coming out to dance!" Arisa placed a card in the Spell/Trap zone. "I'll play Polymerization. By fusing Dunames Dark Witch with my Dark Magician Girl, I can summon…"

The two female monsters both entered the fusion vortex. After a few moments, the vortex opened as Téa saw a familiar sight. It was exactly the same costume she wore at the dance. It basically looked like Arisa…only much taller and much prettier.

"The Dunames Dark Magician Witch (2650/2000)!" Arisa announced as the new hovered on her side of the field. "And here's the good part: When Dunames Dark Magician Witch is successfully Fusion Summoned, I can return one Spell Card from my graveyard to my hand. And I'll choose my Graceful Charity." She picked the Spell card from the graveyard. "And, now I'll play it again!" Arisa draws three cards: Monster Reborn, Magician's Valkyria, and Magic Cylinder. She decided to discard Magician's Valkyrie and Magic Cylinder. "And now, I'll play the last card in my hand: Monster Reborn! And I'm going to use it to bring back one of the cards I discarded this turn: Red Eyes Black Dragon!"

Téa blinked as she saw the red-eyed dark dragon rise from the ground, eyes glaring at her, "Red Eyes Black Dragon? Did I just hear you right?" Wasn't Red Eyes Black Dragon Joey's favorite card? 'Please don't tell me Joey's now loaning out his Duel Monster cards to her.'

"That's right! Luvvie gave it to me!" Arisa says with a dreamy look on her face. "It's our symbol of love!"

"Somebody please get me barf bag." Téa rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry Taye-Taye, it'll be over soon!" Arisa now went into her battle phase. "Now Dunames Dark Magician Witch, attack Téa directly with Moonlight Magic!" As an image of the moon appeared above them, the Dark Magician Witch began to glow as she then fired a bright white blast that hit the brunette directly, reducing her Life Points…

Téa: 6650  
Arisa: 5150

"And now Reddy Dragon, attack Little Miss Preppy McPrep with Inferno Fire Blast!" She ordered as Red Eyes fired a dark flaming blast from its mouth as Téa shielded herself once more…

Téa: 4250  
Arisa: 5150

"I hope you haven't forgotten about my Robbin' Zombie's effect, have you?" Arisa reminded as the same decayed hand took two more cards from the top of Téa's deck: Revealing it to be Call of the Haunted and Happy Lover.

"It's your turn now…' But let me warn ya, Taye-Taye: Whatever it is it better be good otherwise I'll have this duel in the bag.

Téa sighed as she drew her card. As much as she did not want to admit, Arisa was right. She had two monsters on the field with an attack over 2000 a piece, not to mention that she would more than likely draw a monster card next turn and finish her off. If somehow she could bring back her Fire Empress Magician, she could turn this duel around. She brought the card she had drawn to her closely as she saw it. The card that will definitely turn this duel around! "Now, I'll activate Dimension Jump!" She explained as her life points began to decrease…

Téa: 3450  
Arisa: 5150

Téa continued to explain as a dimensional rift began to open, "For 800 Life Points, I can special summon one monster that has been removed from play! And the monster that I choose is my Fire Empress Magican!" She announced as from the dimensional rift, the Fire Spellcaster arrived to the field. It's a shame that my Fire Empress Magician has more life points than both of your monsters!"

"Oh crap…" Arisa sighed, knowing what was coming next.

"And now, with no cards in your hand or facedown, you're a sitting duck!" Téa now ordered her monster, "Fire Empress Magician, destroy her Red Eyes Black Dragon!" The Fire Empress her Burning Magic Attack at the dark dragon, incinerating the red-eyed dragon as Arisa's Life Points began to drop…

Téa: 3450  
Arisa: 4900

"So much for your 'Symbol of Love!'" Téa replied as she then ended her turn, leaving the Blonde to proceed in drawing a card…

Arisa drew a card as she then smiled. "Sorry Taye-Taye! While I'm impressed that you could bring back your Fire Empress, it's a shame that it's going to be a round trip!"

"What?" Téa blinked as Arisa proceeded to remove two cards from her graveyard.

"To summon this monster, I have to remove one Light-Attribute and one Dark-Attribute monster from my graveyard and as you can see…." Arisa took from her graveyard, the Light-Attribute Dunames Dark Witch and one of her Dark-Attribute Dark Magician Girls from her graveyard and showed them to Téa before placing them in the pocket of her pink blazer as she then placed her drawn card on the field. "Now that I've fulfilled the requirements, I now summon Chaos Sorcerer (2300/2000) in Attack Mode!" She announced as the dark chaotic sorcerer appeared on the field. "And here's the fun part about him. In exchange for him not being able to attack this turn, I can remove one of your face-up monsters from the field." Her grin became wider, "And seeing that she's the only monster on your side of the field… "

Téa watched as the dark sorcerer unleashed a spell that caused her Fire Spellcaster to instantly disappear, leaving her wide open. "Oh no…"

"And now Dunames Dark Magician Witch, attack with Moonlight Magic!" The blonde ordered as the fusion Spellcaster attacked Téa directly, causing her Life Points to decrease even further…

Téa: 800  
Arisa: 4900

"And now you lose another card from your deck!" Arisa reminded as Téa saw that same hand drag another one of her cards from her deck, Fire Sorcerer to the graveyard. "Do you wanna give up now or do you want to continue? But let me tell ya, either way you're going to lose on my next turn!"

Téa had to agree, as much as it sickened her to do so. Neither of them have any cards in their hands and whatever it was, the best she could do was hold off at least one of their attacks! But then again, her Chaos Sorcerer could just get rid whatever stopped the inevitable. With a sigh, she decided to just draw a card and hope for the best… "Let's see… Now I'll play Pot of Avarice!" She announced as she took five monster cards from her graveyard: Skelengel, Fire Princess, Fire Sorcerer, Dark Magician Girl, and Happy Lover. "I must take five monster cards, shuffle them back into my deck, then draw two cards!" As she does this, Téa looked at the cards she had drawn as a smile formed on her face. That half-pint won't know what hit her after she was done. "I'll place one card facedown and summon Jowgen the Spiritualist (200/1300) in attack mode! That'll do it for me!"

"…" Arisa raised an eyebrow. "That's it? _That's_ your big move? I don't even need to use my Chaos Sorcerer's effect!" Did Téa have a trap waiting for her? That had to be the case unless she basically made a move out of desperation! But if she was ready to lose, okay then… However little did Arisa know, as she drew her card, a smile formed on the brunette's face…

'Gotcha…' Téa smile grew wider. Arisa fell for it hook line and sinker! "Activate Last Turn!"

"WHAT?" Arisa's eyes went wide at this. Since when did Téa have a card like that in her deck?

"Now all cards except for Jowgen is destroyed and you get to select one monster from your deck and Special Summon it to the field. Whoever's monster remains on the field wins the duel! You'd probably win since Jowgen only has 200 attack points. But since his special ability prevents special summoning, you can't summon any monsters. Therefore, I win by default!"

"What?" Arisa was in disbelief at what just happened, as Jowgen began to disappear form the field. The duel was over, and she lost! This was ridiculous! Her eyes narrowed at the brunette. "Lucksacker…"

"Nope, I just used the heart of the cards!" Téa stated as the dueling platforms lowered. "You're just mad that you lost!"

"No, I'm just mad that I got lucksacked! There's a difference!"

"Don't be such a sore loser!" Téa scoffed as she stepped down, "Please!"

"Okay fine! You may have won this round, but you won't luck out again!" Arisa declared before screaming, "I WANNA REMATCH!"

"I have homework to do, excuse me!" Téa waved her off as walked away, with a smile on her face. Arisa may've took…no, stolen Joey from her. But at least Téa won her duel against her when it mattered, and it was something that she can hold over her for a long time. And it was for damn sure that Téa would be sleeping well tonight.

* * *

I wasn't originally planning on adding this to the story, but it just came to mind and was tempting me so much that I just had to write it out. Besides, it was a bit good character development as it gives one girl a bit of superiority over the other, and the other another reason to hate her. Next chapter will focus back on Kara and Kaiba, I promise. 

**OC Cards used:**

**Fire Empress Magician  
**Fire/Spellcaster/9  
2750/1800  
(Dark Magician Girl + Fire Princess)  
When this card is successfully Fusion Summoned, put 1 Spell Counter on it (max.1). Increase the ATK strength by 300 for each Spell Counter on this card. Remove 1 Spell Counter from this card to destroy 1 Magic or Trap card on the Field. Inflict 800 points of Direct Damage to your opponents Life Points each time you increase your own Life Points.

**Dunames Dark Magician Witch  
**Dark/Spellcaster/10  
2650/2000  
(Dark Magician Girl + Dunames Dark Witch)  
This card can only be Special Summoned from your Fusion Deck by Fusion Summon. When this monster is special summoned, place on spell card from your graveyard to your hand. When this monster destroys a monster on your opponent's side of the field as a result of battle, that monster is removed from play. When this card is destroyed, remove 2 monsters from your graveyard to special summon this card on your next standby phase.

**White Light  
**Spell  
This card can only be activated when there is a "Dark Magician Girl" on your side of the field. Destroy all cards on your opponent's side of the field. "Dark Magician Girl" cannot attack on the turn this Spell Card is activated.

**Dimension Jump  
**Spell/Equip  
Pay 800 Life Points. Special Summon one of your monsters that has been removed from play on your side of the field. When this card is removed from the field, removed the selected monster from the game. When this monster is removed from the field, destroy this card.


	30. Kaiba's Past

**Chapter 30: **Kaiba's Past

Now that she knew that she was in Kaiba's mind, it was time for her to get to work. To get down to the very core of his personality! To see just was it that made Seto Kaiba the person he was today. She knew that it had something to do with Gozaburo Kaiba and how he had raised him, but what was it exactly. So far, from what she had seen Kaiba and Mokuba's mother had died and right now, Seto was mourning while Mokuba was, as young as he was, basically oblivious to it all. It must've been tough on them both. Having lost their mother while they were so young. Just thinking about it made tears once again fall from her eyes…

Like them both, Kara had lost her parents, too. But at least she had them for twelve years. Kaiba, on the other hand, only had his for four years and Mokuba not only didn't have much time with his mother, but it was during his birth. She knew that she would've either been cold, heartless, and ruthless or depressed and suicidal if she had lost her mother that way, not to mention maintaining the eternal guilt for the rest of her life. It was surprising that Mokuba wasn't as cold as his bro! As for their father, she assumed that he had died not to later. She knew that she would have to go forward into time. To see the event which lead to the death of the father and to them both becoming orphans.

As if it reacted to her thoughts immediately, the necklace began glow brightly as the area around Kara began to glow white. She wondered what would happen now. Especially since she was in another person's mind, there was no telling what would happen next…

**Domino**

Kara looked around as she found herself back downtown somehow. Either Kaiba had someone awoke and had security threw her out, or that she was still in his mind. Seeing that Kaiba wouldn't be one to cruelly throw a person into the streets (or at least she hoped so), Kara decided to look around to find the origin of the memories she was now visiting. The last one was a bit depressing with the loss of the mother, but it was the…well… loss of their father she was now concerned about. After all, his death would eventually lead both soon-to-be orphaned boys to be adopted by Gozaburo Kaiba. As the blue haired girl walked the streets, she soon came across a fairly large brick building near a street corner. As she walked closer, she saw the golden metal sign near the door: Domino Children's Orphanage.

Kara blinked. Was this the orphanage Kaiba and Mokuba went to when they lost their father? Which brought another question: If they're there right now, then how did the father die? Otherwise, he abandoned them! She couldn't think about this even more, as she was snapped from her thoughts by the sound of children yelling and screaming!

"What's happening?" She wondered to herself as she proceeded to run around the corner, heading towards the source of the commotion. It didn't take her too long, as when she got there, she saw a group of small children yelling with a few of them shaking the fence.

"What's wrong? The little baby scared?" One of them taunted. "Don't worry, we can't hurt you! This here fence is here to make sure you guys are safe!"

"Oh c'mon! We won't bite!" Another said to their target as Kara saw the group of young boys. There weren't that many of them, but there weren't that less of them either. Afterwards, that same boy suddenly kicked the fence as his friends suddenly laughed.

"Oh that's right!" The first one said with a hint of arrogance in his voice. Obviously the leader of the bunch… "The fence isn't here to protect you from us! It's here to protect fine, upstanding citizens like us from animals like you! Otherwise why else would you be caged here like the animalistic filth that you are!"

"Filth, filth, filth!"

"Stop that!" Another voice said from the direction they were looking.

"And what are you gonna do about it, kid? You can't touch us! I know you'd wanna get your hands on-BACK YA FUCKING FREAK!" He swung his metal baseball bat hard as a scream of pain was heard.

"Mokie!"

Kara blinked at the name. "Mokie?" The voice who called out that name also sounded familiar.

"You see, animals like you need to learn yer place!" The leader replied. "After all, why else would ya mutts be in there? To keep ya from being apart of society! That's what you orphans are! After all, if there was someone in the world that even gave two shits about ya, you wouldn't be here!"

"That's not true… That's not true…"

"Then tell me kid! Why are you here anyway?"

"None of your business!"

"I knew it! The reason why yer here is because nobody wants ya! Lemme guess: Ya parent's off themselves, huh?" He saw the pained look of the boy's face as he continued. He smirked, "I knew it! Ya parents were so ashamed about the fact that they had such loser children that they wanted to kill themselves so that they wouldn't have anything to do with ya anymore! I mean I wouldn't blame 'em. You sure as hell look wimpy! I bet you can't even throw a punch!"

"That's enough!" Kara yelled at the boy as she stormed over there. She couldn't believe them! She knew kids could be so cruel, but now they were going too far. Nobody deserved to feel that way. She glared at the leader. Under his backwards blue hat was shaggy, chestnut hair, save for the glaring green eyes that were towards her direction. "What's wrong with you?"

"Stay outta this, Lady!" He snapped at her.

"Yeah!" Another boy replied, with red shaved hair and blue eyes. "This isn't none of your business!"

"I think you and your little group need to leave right now before I call your parents!" Kara threatened. She may still be a teenager, but she was old enough to exert some authority to children.

"Like hell you will! You don't even know who our parents are!"

She crosses her arms. "Okay then… Then I'll just inform the police and let them deal with you!"

"Okay okay we'll go…" The leader held up his hands. "No need to get your panties in a bunch! Guys, let's go…" The group of mischievous boys left as one of them, as awkward as it was, actually checked Kara out.

"She hasn't got laid…" He said, which made Kara's eyes go wide. Kids actually know about this at this age, let alone talking about it?

That didn't matter at the time, as Kara took a look at the two boys: One of them checking on the other. She was in shocked at what she saw… "It can't be… Seto?" It was indeed a younger Kaiba checking on a little boy. From the look of his hair, it had to be Mokuba. From the look of things, his hand was somewhat injured. Must've been from when that kid kicked at him. Again, kids could be so cruel, it's heartbreaking.

Kara moved as closed to the brothers as much as they fence between them would allow as she asked, "Are you two okay?"

"We're fine, Miss." The younger brunette explained. "Mokie needs to get some ice and he'll be okay."

"Who were those guys, anyway?" Kara asked, trying to fathom kids who actually could be so cold to act that way towards anyone, let alone orphans.

"They're just a bunch of bullies…" Seto's eyes narrowed. "They like to think they're tough by picking on the weak, when in truth that they're just scared cowards who back down when faced against someone stronger and better than them. They'll get theirs and if it were up to me those thugs would never mess with anyone ever again after I'm through with them."

"Haven't you told someone about this?"

"We tried, but none of the grown ups will believe me. That's when I realized that nobody will ever do anything to help us again, and that we would have to survive on our own."

Kara closed her eyes as she lowered her head with a frown. "That can be true! Somebody has to listen to you! They're supposed to be taking care of you guys, not ignoring you! Just what do they do anyway?"

"I'm sorry Miss, but I have to take Mokie inside…" Seto simply said as he helped his sniffling brother to his feet before walking him towards the building, leaving to Kara to thing about what had just happened, specifically what she had learned. What kind of orphanage is run by people who do not care about the children anyway? With that in mind Kara sighed, remembering how cruel, heartless, and despicable people could truly be, young or old. She realized that not everyone could quickly find a family to adopt them like she did. Perhaps it was because of some couples preferred boys and some couples preferred girls. She is starting to understand why Seto Kaiba was the way he was. First he loses his parents, and now they get heckled and bullied by the kids who lived outside of the orphanage. And then the adults who worked there, adults who are supposed to be taking care of the orphans don't do anything about it! It made her angry just thinking about it. But she would soon be snapped out of her thoughts by a very familiar voice…

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

Kara blinked as she turned around. To say that she was shocked would be an understatement. Angry blue eyes were narrowed glaring daggers at her as the only thing the blue-haired girl could do was just smile… "Er…Hi!"

Kaiba glared, arms crossed, as his teeth was clenched down. "What… are you… doing… in my MIND?" No response, as the person, the intruder to his mind was angry. "Did you really think that I wouldn't notice you trying to do some of that hocus pocus crap when you 'conveniently' put me to sleep? Did you really think that I wouldn't notice you trying to invade my mind, my personal thoughts, my personal feelings?"

"Look I'm concerned for you, alright!" Kara sighed. "I just can't stand to see you angry! It's starting to take a toll on your life! You don't even see Mokuba that much any more and it's starting to take a toll on him!"

"I could care less!" Kaiba crossed his arms. "Mokuba understands what I need to do! Besides, don't you have someone else to bother…"

"It's not 'bothering' when you care about someone. And I thought someone like you would understand!"

"Don't even play that guilt trip on me!" Kaiba glared. "I've already had enough of that crap from Mokuba, the last thing I need is for you to start too!"

"Maybe we wouldn't start that 'crap' if you'd just mellowed out a while!"

"Mellowing out is for slackers!" Kaiba glared. "Anyone who wastes time and doesn't work doesn't deserve to live!"

"That's what Gozaburo told you, isn't it…" Kara sadly stated as Kaiba's eyes went opened. "You mentioned how Gozaburo was responsible for you having a tough upbringing, that you have to work without thinking about anything else. No friends, social life, nothing that normal people your age strived for. Gozaburo isn't around anymore!"

"As much as I despised that man and hated him to the core, that does not make him any wrong with what he had said. If I ignored him, Mokuba and I would've been out on the street! I would end up with lowlife thugs who'd even kill their own families for money! I don't want to submit Mokuba to a life as common thug and end up like that losing chump Wheeler!"

"What do you have against him anyway? I mean really, what the hell did Joey ever do to you!"

"He's done enough, as far as I'm concerned! All his kind has! Trash like Joey Wheeler are nothing but worthless common thugs and no one should ever waste there time on them because thugs are living contradictions. Thugs are filled with unfulfilled ambitions. Thugs wax and wane, thugs love to complain, thugs love to hear themselves talk but hate to explain! Thugs love to be another man's judge and jury. Thugs procrastinate until it's time to worry. Thugs love to be late and hate to hurry!" Kaiba scoffed, "Wheeler thinks that I'm just an elitist piece of shit with a prejudice against the poor? Well I think that he's just a bitter broke piece of shit with a prejudice against the rich and the successful! People who'd amount to more than he ever would in his pathetic life! If you don't believe me, why don't you ask him yourself! Maybe he'll entertain you by mocking me or making fun of me! He doesn't even know a damn thing about me and he still labels me as some heartless spoiled rich kid with a silver spoon in his mouth! And he complains about me not giving him any "thank you's"? Would you thank someone who basically gave you backhanded help? I didn't think so!"

"Okay, fine! Let's agree to disagree: Joey shouldn't be prejudice against you! You shouldn't be prejudice against him!" Kara said. "Damn it, if you'd just get past by your upbringings and backgrounds you'd find that you have plenty in common! You both like dueling! You both had a younger sibling that you care deeply about! Hell, the reason why you're both in anger management in the first place is because of each other!"

"Blame Wheeler! Everything's always has been and always will be his fault! Even now, if that dog would had accept the damn duel he wouldn't be in the hospital in the first place!" He scoffed, "Hopefully he won't recover!"

"…You don't really mean that!"

"I do! And besides, if the tables were reversed, Wheeler would feel the exact same way! Face facts Kara: I hate Wheeler, Wheeler hates me, that's the way it'll always be!"

"I think you both need to get together with a SWAT team and deal with your own problems!" Kara admitted. Honestly, she was beginning to wonder if Arisa was right about this being a bad idea to try to make them friend. Just when she thought she figured out why Joey and Kaiba hated each other, more questions seemed to form. Were they so much alike, despite their backgrounds and home life that they'd be too stubborn to even try to get along with each other? As she felt her necklace glowing again, maybe another method would have to be taken.

* * *

It's safe to say that this mission of Kara's ended failure. What will happen now? You'll just have to stay tuned... 


	31. An Aspiring Duelist

**Chapter 31: **An Aspiring Duelist…

It has been a week since the shooting had happened…

It has been a day since he had been released from the hospital…

And now…

"Joey…"

"Joey…"

"Joey!"

The blonde's eyes slowly open as he saw the face of his sister with a frown. He sighed, "What now sis…"

"You promised!" Serenity reminded, hands on her hips. However, the only thing she got in return was a yawn.

"I'll get to it later…" Joey turned over as he went back to sleep. He figured he could fulfill his promise later, whatever the hell it was.

"Like hell you will!" Serenity pulled the covers off of him. "Come on, Joey! You promised me!"

"I know I know…" He groggily said as he pulled the covers back over him. "Wake me up in an hour or so…" He yawned once more before falling asleep, much to the chagrin to the auburn-haired girl.

"Looks like I'll have to get the trumpet again…" She sighed to herself. But then again, the last time she tried that she got yelled at. Therefore, a quieter method would have to be implemented…

A smile formed on the blonde's face as he slumbered away. Soon he felt a poking sound. "…Yeah Arisa… Like that…" He muttered in his sleep, which caused a giggle to emit from the young girl. Apparently he had her on the brain 24-7. She felt remorse for breaking up whatever pleasant dream he was having by doing what she was going to do next… almost.

Joey turned again as he felt another poke, his smile growing wider. More and more pokes was felt, causing him to keep turning until he suddenly felt himself about 100 pounds heavier. And since the impact was on his upper body, he felt the air being forced out from his mouth, consequentially waking him up! "The hell?"

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Serenity chanted as she shook him by the loins of his wifebeater. Almost manically! She was looking forward to this day and it was not going to be ruined all because of her brother slacking off!

"Alrightalrightalright…" Joey gently pushed her aside as he got up from his bed. No use going back to sleep now as she'd just keep bugging him until he went crazy or, from her latest "wake-up attempts," break one of his ribs, whichever occurred first. "Give me a sec' a'right?"

"Whatever!" She chirped as she skipped out of the room, but as she was at the door. "Oh Big Brother?" She turned back. "Try not to take too long! Otherwise I'll have to drag you out, even if you're in the shower." She said sweetly before leaving the room, leaving the blonde to shake his head.

"Must be really lookin' forward to this…" Joey sighed as he went to his closet, deciding on what to wear today. He could understand her excitement and the fact that she couldn't wait. After all, it was what she basically talked to him about back at the hospital. But did she have to get him up this early in the freaking morning? God… 'She's gonna be the death of ya…' He thought to himself…

30 Minutes Later 

As Joey placed his green jacket over his white shirt, he walked out of his room to see Serenity, with her hand on the waist of her orange pleated skirt and her eyes narrowed.

"Can we go now?" Serenity asked, apparently tired of waiting.

"Chill Sis, it's still a bit early!" Joey scratched his head.

"Joey, it's 11:30!" She explained as Joey blinked.

"11:30? THE FU-?"

"Joey!"

"Oh whatever!" Joey waved off his sister's scolding as they both walked out the door. "Let's just get to the place alright!"

"Finally…" Serenity sighed. She knew that she was being a bit hasty and a bit difficult, but this was a special day for her. Hopefully Joey could understand…

**Turtle Game Shop**

As Solomon swept away the front sidewalk at the shop, Yugi, Tristan, and Bakura were both bringing in today's shipment! Tristan and Bakura were both relieved that Yugi was back to his normal, optimistic self. He really gave them a scare when he didn't showed up, but the day after Joey woke up, Yugi began to become social again and started to once again hang out with his friends.

"So what's in the goods?" Tristan asked as they both brought in the boxes inside of the shop through the backdoor.

"Just a few new games!" Yugi explained. "There's this new Pocket Monster game where you can customize your own monster then train it well enough to battle it out with your friends. A very interesting concept!"

"Hmm… maybe I should give it a try…" Bakura suggested. "It may be fun, after all!"

"It may be fun to you, but my wallet says differently." Tristan turned to Yugi. "How much is one of those Pocket Monsters gonna to cost?"

"Actually, I'm not so sure…" Yugi admitted as he set a box on the counter. "I'll have to check the shelf price first, then comes the discounts for it being here. After all, it's what sets us apart from the other game shops!"

"Speaking of whom, where is Devlin anyway?" Tristan looked around. "Surprised Dice Boy hasn't showed up yet."

"Well he does have his own game shop to run!" Yugi reminded. "Which reminds me, we're starting to stock up on Dungeon Dice Monsters!"

"Yugi, you can't be serious!" Tristan snapped. "You're actually supporting that creep?"

"Tristan, the only reason why you don't like him is because he's your rival for Serenity's affections."

"No, it's not because of that! I mean, you know-" Tristan was interrupted by a humorous sight. He nearly busted a gut from preventing his laughter as Yugi and Bakura also watched as through the open door, Serenity was basically dragging Joey inside of the shop.

"Sis, calm down!" Joey tried to gain some control over his sister's enthusiasm, but it just wouldn't do.

"Come on, we're almost there!" Serenity chirped as she basically ran towards the counter. However, as she scanned the case… "Aww…they're out! Honestly, if you weren't so much of a slacker…"

"Look, it's not like they would've been there if we would've camped out here, they've been out of them for weeks!" Joey explained.

"You're just saying that to make up the fact that you're too damn lazy!" Serenity frowned. "Honestly, for someone who has a paper route, you're sure not much of a morning person!"

"What's wrong?" Yugi asked as Joey sighed…

"Serenity wants to buy a starter deck." He explained. "Problem is we haven't had the best of luck looking for 'em."

"And apparently they don't have any here, still…"Serenity sighed in disappointment.

"Cheer up, Serenity!" Joey placed a hand on her shoulder. "If we don't find a Starter deck, we could do the next best thing…"

"Like what? A starter deck contains all the cards that are important for any deck. Like Trap cards, Spell cards…"

Joey dug into his pocket as he proceeded to pull out a $20. "An average deck only contains 40 cards, and the packs usually contain nine cards. So if you buy five and you'll get 45 cards."

"True, but what if they are completely useless and otherwise a waste of deck space?"

"…Er… let me worry about that, sis!" Joey slapped the bill on the counter top. "Yuge, spot me five packs."

"Are you sure that you should be throwing away money like that?" Serenity reminded, "Your bank balance isn't exactly the greatest! After all, isn't Arisa's birthday coming up?"

"Like I said! Let me worry about that, sis!" Joey said again before asking. "Now, which card packs would you like?"

"Umm… well…" Serenity looked around as she saw various kinds of packs. But there were a few that caught her eye. "Hey, isn't Yugi on the picture of that pack over there?" Serenity pointed to a silver box that contained a picture of Yugi with a duel disk with the title "Dark Beginnings Vol. 1." She then saw another pack with Yugi's picture, only this one was gold and was titled "Dark Revelations Vol. 1." "Pegasus must really like Yugi a lot!"

"Well, when you're the king of games, it is something to be expected." Bakura stated as Serenity pointed to the mentioned boxes of packs. "I'll take three Dark Beginnings and two Dark Revelations!"

"You'll get 12 cards per pack so you'll have more than enough for a deck, now." Joey stated as Serenity looked at the packs she had received from Yugi.

"Do you think I could make a deck out of these cards?" Serenity asked as everyone looked away. "Umm… Is there something wrong?"

"Err…Serenity? The thing is that you can't really make a deck just by simply buying packs." Joey explained. "You have to be very lucky to manage to do that."

"Okay then…" Serenity gave the packs back to a surprised Yugi.

"Umm…Serenity, what are you doing?" The shorter teen asked as Serenity only smiled.

"Joey, would you do the honors for me?" She asked sweetly.

"Say what?" The blonde responded. "Why?"

"But you're the expert at pulling what you need!" She reminded in a somewhat whiny tone as Tristan snickered.

"She needs your power of luck, Joey!" He taunted, which caused Joey to scratch his chin, but in a way where his middle finger was on his cheek, the cheek that was "conveniently" facing Tristan. "Yeah, that's real mature…"

"Yugi, pass me the boxes…" He simply said with a sigh.

"Okay Joey, but remember! Serenity is really counting on you." Yugi replied as he brought the boxes towards him, looking to have fun with this.

"Okay… Let's just get this over with." Joey closed his eyes as he went through the boxes. "Feel the energies… Feel the energies…" He said repeatedly as he picked up one pack? "Nah…" He placed it back into the box as he picked up another one. "Nah, probably crap cards." Five minutes later, after a lot of second and third thoughts, he finally selected his five. "Okay Serenity, you open them."

She nodded as she opened her new packs. As for the cards themselves, they were a lot that could be useful as well as some that were indeed quite powerful. Of course there had to be the ones that were completely worthless and required key cards that appeared to not be present in her open pack, but there was one card that stood out… "Wow… Do you know what this card does?"

Yugi walked over as he and Joey examined the card itself. "It's Double Spell!" Yugi explained. "With this card you can use your opponent's spell card in the graveyard!"

"Sounds cool!" Serenity smiled.

"Yeah, but it's gonna have to cost ya one of your own to use. Otherwise it'd be unbalanced." Joey explained. "That's why we have ban lists in the first place! Otherwise the playing field will be one-sided with elitist piece of sh…" He saw Serenity's face. "Scum like Kaiba pissing everyone off while poor broke schmos like yours truly never having a chance at the top! I mean, it's still kinda this way now, but as long as we keep improvin' our game maybe one day this would truly be a game where everyone has a chance. I mean if Yugi can beat Kaiba, someone else might have a chance."

"But you took on Kaiba numerous times and you still couldn't beat him!" Serenity reminded which caused Joey's eyes to narrow. "Well, you could've beaten him with that one card, but you decided not to use it!"

"She's got a point, Einstein!" Tristan added.

"You just _had_ to bring that up, didn't ya?" Joey replied.

"I'm surprised that you haven't even tried the Soul of the Duelist packs again." Yugi expressed his thoughts. "Isn't there a certain card that you need from those packs?"

"Yuge, after that Fiasco at the…" Joey notices Serenity, "Y'know, I just basically said Fu…er… Screw it. I never got to see the card first hand and I probably never will. At least I have something to keep for a collector's value."

"Come on Joey, I'm sure you'll be successful this time!" Serenity said, with optimism in her voice.

"Yeah Joey! You're sure to get it this time!" Yugi said with optimism equally enough to match Serenity's.

"Look at it this way. If you don't, you'd at least get some cards to go with your deck!" Tristan reminded.

Joey ignored Tristan's remarks as Yugi pulled out a box of the Soul of the Duelist packs as Joey, after he placed four dollars on the table, reached inside of the box. "C'mon… Let it be the one let it be the one…" The blonde's eyes closed as his fingers went over each pack available in the box. There's only three packs in here. It'd at least make it easier to find… A'right this is the one!"

Serenity blinked, "Really Joey?"

"Yeah! I can feel it!" Joey pulled out the chosen pack as he ripped open the wrapper, pulling out the cards. "C'mon, show me the rare show me the rare…" A smile showed on Joey's face as he cycled through the cards. This had to be the one. He could feel it. It was the rarest one in the box, so it couldn't have been crap. However… when he got to the rare… "FUCK!"

"What? What's wrong?" Yugi and Serenity asked at the same time.

"I got an ultimate rare…" Joey explained as he then showed the "Ultimate Rare." "Of Charcoal Inpachi… Charcoal Fucking Inpachi!"

"Joey, you did it again!" Serenity reminded him, a bit in a scolding manner. "You said the F-word, twice!"

"Cry me a river…" He waved off.

"Well Joey, you did get a highly-rare card. Too bad it just had to suck!" Tristan snickered.

"I got better things to do…" Joey turned around as he walked away.

"C'mon Joey! What do you have to do today! I mean it's Sunday!" Serenity asked. "Why can't we hang with our friends?"

"'Risa's B-day's coming up and I gotta look for something to get her! So I'm probably gonna spend all day at the mall!"

"Well, for a suggestion, you could just give her…" Tristan snickered, "A card like that that Ultimate Rare card you're holding right now!"

"At least I _have_ a girlfriend to get a gift for!" Joey countered to stop Tristan's laughing. Once the brunette's mouth was silenced, he replied, "That's what I thought!"

"Where is Duke, anyway?" Bakura asked. Nobody has seen him at all this morning. Usually he'd be here along with Tristan.

"Don't know, don't care!" Tristan flat-out said. The less Devlin was around, the better chance he had with Serenity… That is if Joey didn't get in the way first.

"Tristan, that's not nice!" Serenity scolded as the brunette sighed.

"I know, but…I just hate him…." He responded in a semi-whiny tone. Ironic, as if on cue, the door of the pawn shop opened as a teen only dressed in his boxers stumbled in, his long ebony hair in his face. From the way he appeared, apparently he was on the worst end of a fight. "Umm…what's up?"

"Are you okay?" Yugi rushed over to the collapsing visitor, who sniffled a bit. When the shorter boy gained closer, his eyes went wide. "Duke?"

"…They got me…" He said in a whiny tone. "They cleaned me out…"

"Damn Devlin, what happened to you?" Tristan asked, trying his best to maintain his laugher. He only wished he had his camera with him! This was priceless!

"Fuck you, Taylor…" Duke said as Yugi rushed to get him a robe!

"Damn Duke, could ya just covered up before showin' here?" Joey covered Serenity's eyes. "Y'know we gotta minor in here!" That comment earned him a stiff elbow to the midsection…

"Honestly, I'm almost 16!" She replied. She was growing tired of her brother's overprotective nature to the point where she was going to have sex with the first guy she saw just because of it.

Domino National Park 

Arisa sighed as she sat under a tree, cross-legged as she looked over the contents of her deck. The same questions were asked again. 'What the hell?' She thought to herself as she looked at three of her favorite cards: Dunames Dark Witch, Magician's Valkyria, and of course Dark Magician Girl. As much as she hated, loathed, and despised admitting it and was desperately looking to prove that it was a matter of Téa lucksacking Jowgen and Last Turn, she knew deep down that it was her underestimation of the brunette girl that led to her downfall. She had to admit that Téa's Fire Empress Magician was powerful and led to a few close calls!

She took a look at her other cards such as Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer and Apprentice Magician. They were also served to do whatever she needed done in a duel, whether if it was to get rid of a monster that could be revived from the grave earlier, or quick tribute bait for her Magician girls. Now it was time make a serious decision on her deck, considering which cards to keep and which to ditch.

Of course, she took out Red Eyes Black Dragon from her deck, instead placing it in a picture frame to treasure. It was indeed powerful, but it clashed with her Magician Girl theme. That lowered her card count to 39, leaving one card to be decided to take its place.

"Hey Arisa!"

The blonde shook, startled from the voice from behind as she turned around. She then gave a small smile. "Oh hi! What are you doing here?"

"Just enjoying a day at the park." Mokuba admitted as he took a seat next to her. "Aren't you usually with Joey!"

"Yeah, but Serenity's really looking forward to her Starter Deck." Arisa sighed, "I tried telling the girl that they've been out of them for months, but she just refuses to believe it. Well…not just me, but Joey, Yugi, Tristan… We would've gone to Duke's shop, but Tristan just _had_ to complain. Anyway, while they're doing that, I just took the time to come down here and relax." She said with a sigh. "How about you?"

"Well, Seto's at work as usual so I'm basically on my own to find something to do!" He admitted. "Still would be nice if Seto would take a day off and hang out like a normal teenager for once!"

"Does your brother work all the time like this?"

"Yeah!" Mokuba sighed. "It's like my brother has disappeared and left a father figure in his place. I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything, but I sometimes wish that Seto could be the way he was, before Gozaburo came into our lives."

Arisa looked at the ebony-haired boy as she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Kaiba was the only family he had, despite being a total douche, and even then he couldn't spend time with him because of his work. And knowing that he was basically giving up doing the things normal teenagers his age were doing right now in order to support the both of them, in a way the blonde felt a bit sorry for him. However, what neither Arisa nor Mokuba noticed, was a black van driving up from behind them as the door to said van opened… Out stepped two well-built men dressed in black complete with a black ski mask.

"S'that 'em?" One asked.

"Yeah, word said that he was small enough!" The other responded.

"An' the ho?"

"Snatch her, too! We could have some fun with her, G!"

"So what are you going to do now?" Mokuba asked as Arisa let out a sigh.

"Well, might as well head down to Kaiba Corp to see what's up!" Arisa admits. "We need to see how Kara's doing."

"Kara?" Mokuba blinked in confusion before he remember. "Oh right, she's there to see-HEY!" He was cut-off by a hand wrapping around his head.

"Mokuba? HEY-" Arisa too was soon grabbed from behind as the two thugs held tightly on to their capture.

"Dayum bitch, hold still!" One of them hissed as the girl, who was now flailing her legs to break free from hold. He soon felt teeth on his hand which cause him to scream loudly! "YOU FUCKING BITCH!" He snapped as he then proceeded to hit her hard with a headbutt, knocking the blonde unconscious!"

"Arisa!" Mokuba yelled, a bit muffled by the hand as his captor smirked.

"Throw her in 'tha van!" He ordered as his partner draped the unconscious girl over his shoulder. "I'm sure my man'll be happy about this!"

Kame Game Shop 

"Duke, don't tell me that you just went over to that place!" Joey slapped a hand onto his head. After what has happened the last time he went there, how it almost cost him his life and how it made Yugi go out of control, one would think that he wouldn't have to worry about anyone going there, let alone his friends.

"I was just driving by in my limo before I saw a couple of guys playing a dice game. Being known as the ultimate dice master, I couldn't resist going to see what kind of game they were playing!" Duke explained, having since placed on a robe.

Tristan narrowed his eyes. "You mean to tell me that you stopped just to play a freaking game of dice?"

"Hey, I was winning!" Duke snapped back. "It was going really well, until _they_ showed up…"

"What happened?" Yugi asked.

"They robbed everyone, told all of us to strip down! Since there were plenty of girls there, I thought it wouldn't have been so bad, but they took everything from me! They even…" Duke sniffled a bit as a tear came from his eye.

"They even what?" Joey asked.

"THEY EVEN TOOK MY DICE EARRING!" Duke bawled as Serenity wrapped her arms around him. Comforting him.

"It'll be okay Duke…" She soothed the mentally broken Dungeon Dice Master, as Duke couldn't help but smile. He was actually this close to Serenity, even up to the point where he could feel her breasts brushing up against his arm and shoulder. The best part of it all? Taylor hated every moment of it. He knew that he'd like to punch him in the face right now, but that'd only make him look worse in Serenity's eyes. Too bad Spike-o: You snooze, you lose!

"Well…things seem to be a bit in order now, so I'm gonna bounce and work on finding 'Risa a B-day gift!" Joey informed as he proceeded to leave.

"Joey! Wait!" Tristan called out. "Don't tell me you're actually letting Serenity be even near Devlin's naked ass!" He complained. "Shouldn't you have been yelling, screaming, or better yet beating the living shit out of Devlin right now?"

Joey waved it off, "Nah… I believe Serenity can handle herself! 'Member what she did to Kaiba?"

"I know, but!"

"I'm out guys!" Joey yelled out to everyone as he proceeded to leave the shop. "Wish me luck!"

"I'm sure you'll find something!" Yugi encouraged.

"It may take a while, but you will manage to come up with something to give her that she'll love!" Bakura added as Tristan glared at the exiting blonde.

"Some friend you are, Wheeler! See if I help you again!" He shouted, but Joey was long gone! Damn that guy!

* * *

I'm getting somewhat of a writer's block now, but I don't want to stop yet, as I have three more stories in this AU in the works. And I have plenty of stories to finish. Anyhoo, things are looking to take a dark turn once more with the sudden abductions of Arisa and Mokuba. What will happen now? You'll have to find out later! 


End file.
